Beautiful Moments

I am here, laying in bed, after getting back from a lantern festival, writing this. My night tonight made me think. It made me write this. What a freaking beautiful life we live. What a beautiful world this is. Full of so much beauty, simple and large.

The lantern festival was absolutely amazing. There are truly no words that can accurately depict the experience of being surrounded by such love in such a beautiful place with such a beautiful message, each person there to spread light in a sweet, personalized, individualized way, on a beautiful lantern. What a magical thing, too, for each and every individual to be writing and sending out a different thought, message, prayer, wish, quote, life lesson, dedication, etc. There was a guided meditation over the entire sound system before the launch. As Caroline Molly and I are all sitting in a circle, eyes closed, following along to the meditation, I take myself out of it for a second, open my eyes, look around and see everyone else partaking in the meditation all around me, so silent, so peaceful and so content. Then, simultaneously, the three of us all look up at each other, eyes full of tears, and we grab one another hands and hug super tight. What a beautiful moment. The little girl next to us wrote " I love you Mommy so much" on her lantern. What a beautiful moment. At the very tail end, it began to rain. Really hard, really quickly. As lots of people around us scurried to get their belongings and leave, we stayed. Without saying much, we all stood up with our lanterns and with open arms, danced and spun around in the rain. Taking it all in, feeling all the feels. What a beautiful moment. As we were walking out, Caroline turned to me and said, "If everybody in the world was like all of the people here tonight; just sitting on dirt and launching lanterns into the water in the rain, we would live in a better world." What a true, beautiful thought. If everybody appreciated coming togetherness like those there that night, if everybody cherished those vulnerable moments with their loved ones, AND with a bunch of strangers too, what a wonderful place this world would be. What a beautiful collection of moments tonight. So that got me thinking....

A few weeks ago I was walking through a farmers market when a man complimented my ukulele. I took it out of my bag to show him, he happened to have a pick in his back pocket, and next thing I knew he was playing it, and singing too, and had attracted a huge crowd- all strangers who were just singing along and dancing and even just simply smiling as they walked by. Before I knew it, he was about 5 or 6 whole songs deep, with a large, dance-y, smiling, happy crowd surrounding us. What a beautiful moment.

Raya and I were driving down a dark empty road one random night around 1am, not paying much attention to our surroundings, just being silent and enjoying the ride. That road turned out to be a Native American Reservation. I roll down my backseat window and stick my head out, immediately catching glimpse of what appears to be the most lit up, shining sky I have ever seen, so I look all the way up to the sky, to see it absolutely FULL of the most stars I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes. The dippers were SO clear! I scream "RAYA, ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW RIGHT NOW. LOOK AT THE STARS." We spent the rest of our time on that road with our heads and hands, practically as much body as possible, out of the windows, just simply admiring the night sky. The stunning, clean Tuesday night in the reservation at 1am. What a beautiful moment.

Rosie visited me for a week. Over that short time, being surrounded by my friends, she really came to love them a lot. About a week after she left I had mail, not suspecting anything from her. It was an envelope of three things: one letter to me, which, in itself was so heartfelt and so beautiful, but also a letter to my roommates as well as one of my friends Shane. She did this completely on her own. Nobody asked, nobody hinted, nobody even expected. She just simply did. What a beautiful moment.

On halloween, I decided to stay in rather than go to a party. My parents were here, so we drove around my favorite town all day long, sat and watched the sunset on my absolute favorite beach and then at dusk we walked around the neighborhood where I have always dreamt of living and teaching, and we saw all of the families trick-or-treat. What a beautiful moment.

Yesterday I drove 2 hours into the middle of nowhere with two friends who I had never been super close with here at school, and two entirely new friends, among a big group of other new people. We went to Salvation Mountain - a massive piece of art made within the clay in the desert, consisting of bright, vibrant colors and quotes from the Bible and about God. We played around and took photos and had so much fun. We even met a man in a van who offered us a place to park, a drink, and even some drugs if we were interested. From there, we got back in the car and headed to a little deserted eerie beach town, where there was a little swing set about knees deep in the water, and in the very moment we arrived, the sun was beginning to set right behind it. The floor of the body of water was slippery, sticky, thick and a little sharp, too, but nonetheless we all went out there anyways. We all pranced around and splashed in the water, laughing and taking turns on the swing, having such a pure, wholesome fun time. What a beautiful moment. Although everyone brought their phones and or their cameras out with them, (and I absolutely cannot blame them, it was insanely beautiful), I decided to not. I simply went out there with just myself. I let my feet slide in the mud and I spun around and I admired the entire sunset, as well as the rising of the moon behind the mountains. I slipped, got my light pink dress wet, but I belly laughed so hard and so much. On the way out, I sat with my butt on the window, head completely out of the car, catching the very last of the sunset, when the sky looks as if it is on fire. And as we got on the freeway to head home, sky pitch black and everyone exhausted, we all talked about our favorite moments in life so far, and our biggest dreams and aspirations for the future. What a beautiful collection of moments.

Yesterday I had my last day in the elementary school I work in. After the kids all lined up, backpacks on, ready to get dismissed and leave for the weekend, I stood on the balcony of the classroom and said "Bye you guys. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a wonderful year." At the same time, the dismissal bell rung. Almost half of the students stayed behind the bell and waited to say goodbye to me. A select few ran up the ramp and gave me big hugs. One student in particular gave me a big, long hug and said "I love you Miss Hollie. I don't want you to go, ever." What a beautiful, special moment.

Right now, it is about 11am and I am sitting on the grass overlooking one of my favorite beaches, staring into some of the most gigantic waves I have ever seen in my life. I left my apartment and caught my uber at 7, did a nice hours worth of yoga, went and got myself an acai bowl, and now, here I am, taking in the beauty of the morning time, writing, hearing my music and the sounds of the crashing waves just slightly over it, before I head to my grandmas for the day. Sitting here, just a few moments ago, Caroline sent me a poem that she recently wrote. The poem is all about her newfound discovery in life, living that life, and in living that life with ME! With ME! She didn't have to include me in that poem. She didn't even have to give me credit- because that is a realization that she came to completely by and within herself. Now, I am sitting here, watching the waves, hearing the music and the ocean, with tears in my eyes- the happiest kind, rolling down my face. What a beautiful day, and it is only11. Most people haven't even started their day yet. What a beautiful moment.

Something really special I like to do, when I'm feeling like my faith in humanity is lost a bit, or feeling a little down, or just because, is go sit somewhere in the public. Usually right on the beach. I keep a journal right by my side and write down every single little, medium or big sweet moment I see.

For example, a few weeks ago I was sitting on the beach, watching my friends surf during sunset while studying for my test the next day, but I was getting distracted by everything going on around me, so I started to keep track of it. A few of the many things I jotted down were: a pregnancy photoshoot, more mommy daddy and kiddo photoshoots than I could count- all so happy and full of love, jumping and splashing around in the waves, so many dogs playing with their owners, and with each other, a family is having dinner on their beachside home right over the cliff, and a father and son are having the most wholesome catch underneath the palm trees, three little girls are dressed as mermaids and are having their moms take their photos on the rocks (imagine in 10 years when they can look back on those!) I got to first bump the cutest one year old lil grom, and take some photos for a family with their toddler and their dog as the sun set perfectly behind them. What beautiful moments.

Find the Extraordinary in the Ordinary. <3

Because, when you stop and look around, this life is pretty f r e a k i n g amazing.