Magic Surrounds Me...

Hello friends.

I actually don't know if anyone actually ever reads this blog, but if you do, I consider you a friend (unless you're a weird, creepy internet-stalker type, but even then I'm sure we could share a few laughs).

So... I am not sure if any of you are aware of this, but I have been struggling a lot for the past couple of years-- with a big, heaping platter of things. In fact, it has just been very recently that I feel I have reduced that platter to a manageable-sized dinner plate. I'm not trying to throw a pity party. I'm just trying to explain "the change" I have gone through recently (oh my dang I just read that and it sounds like I had plastic surgery or something. No that's not it!). I just had a truckload of icky dumped on me and I'm to the point where I finally have most of it off and I can begin rebuilding.

I had no idea what a toll these trial-ridden years had taken on me until now. I feel like they changed so much of who I am and how I have been living my life. I have lost a little and gained a little too. I am stronger and tougher, but with that toughness has come a little bit of pessimism that wasn't there before. I've cried enough tears to fill an ocean it seems and in that pain, a little part of me died, or at least because incredibly ill and possibly bed-ridden.

Well now I'm sitting here enjoying the first rays of morning peeking through my window and I'm taking a huge optimistic breath. I am going after that little part of myself that I lost. I am bringing me back. I'm going to enjoy life again and every precious moment that it brings my way. Even though it's Monday and we usually don't get along very well, I don't mind. :) I am going to take the bad with the good and make it into something extraordinary. It's not always going to be perfect. More like perfectly imperfect. To quote one of my favorite songs from the TV series One Tree Hill, "... and if I cry a little, die a little, at least I know I lived..." I am going to enjoy the magic all around me. I am going to be inspired. And I am going to live.

In keeping with my new, fresh and blindingly radiant outlook on life, I am going to turn this Monday into a "day of inspiration." So this is what is inspiring me today:

I am obsessed with Harry Potter. I love it way more than I believe is acceptable for a grown adult to love a children's series. I cried when the first book came out because I was twelve and already too old to be accepted into Hogwarts.

Magic surrounds me...

Yes, I actually do have this note on my light switch. Even if I can't magically make my wand glow, I think Muggle inventions like light bulbs are pretty awesome.

My brother took this photo yesterday in downtown Salt Lake. City Hall is the source of this Monday's day of inspiration because I think it looks just like Hogwarts.

See? This is the one in Orlando. Brade and I saw it being built on our honeymoon and have vowed to return. Learn all about it here. But don't blame me if it makes you really, really excited. It is my heart's dearest desire to live there for at least seven years and complete my magical education. I wonder if Universal Studios has an openings for deranged fans...

Harry Potter inspires me to believe in the magic that surrounds me and to see the world in all its wonder. Enjoy the precious gift life brings. Have a happy week!

Britt