Mornings, for the last little while, have been the lowest part of my day.  Many nights either start with me going to bed too late, get interrupted in the middle by a small person needing to pee in the dark, or begin far too early, because that is when little tummies grumble.  To top it off, no matter what I seem to do, my days have been starting with a headache for the last few weeks.  I am groggy to start off, and may even be a little bit grumbly.

Yesterday was one of those days that should have snapped me out of it quickly.  A crisp but sunny morning with a heavy frost, something I had been waiting for. I love the way that frost alters objects, and wanted to take some pictures with my macro. The lils were in the final stages of school prep when I managed to sneak out for a few shots.  My quick review was somewhat disappointing, so I decided to take my camera on the walk to school with the lils and hope for better shots.

Stopping on the way to school was out of the question.  I have one slow walker who likes to stop and collect treasures and one fast walker who is typically a block or so ahead.  If I were to start stopping to take pictures, chaos would ensue.  Instead I mentally marked things that I could photograph on the way home and herded the lils to school.

The trip home was somewhat disappointing.  I was underdressed and cold, so I rushed and missed half of the things that I had marked for shooting or the shots I took didn’t work out how I had envisioned them when I was walking from the other direction.  My macro lens, which has been acting up for a while, has gotten worse since I used it last and fails to focus at times, which is frustrating. I was about to give up and figure out something else for my wordless Wednesday post when I happened on a little garden that had some neat plant/frost combos.  I knelt down, just off the main street and started clicking away.  As I was immersed in my own little world, I had a vague sensation of a car driving by really slowly, backing up, and moving forward slowly.

I was trying to figure out what the car was doing as I got up and headed the last bit home.  When I pulled even with the car, the driver leaned over and said “Are you feeling well? Are you OK?” I explained what I had been doing and we both laughed and carried on.  I felt differently though.  All it took was that simple act of kindness, her taking the time from her trip to notice and stop to ask for my outlook on my day to change. I had energy that was lacking before, I lost the grumbles that I woke up with, and was reminded that the little kindnesses really do matter.  That’s the kind of reset I love.