What Stops You in Your Tracks?

Mara here:

I was in Palm Springs a couple weeks ago. It was my first trip there and we only went because our daughter was at a music festival in the area. She and her friends stayed at a separate hotel close to where the festival was, and my husband Brad and I stayed about 20 minutes away in the center of Palm Springs—close but not too close.

Palm Springs was interesting. It wasn't at all what I expected. It was smaller and quieter than I had envisioned. For someone who had never thought very much about Palm Springs, I must have subconsciously had a definite idea of what it was like because I was surprised at how it wasn't at all what I didn't know I was expecting!

Anyway, one thing that did happen. When we were sitting at lunch one day, Brad said, "Oh look, there's a hummingbird." I immediately stopped chewing and started searching all around for it. I love hummingbirds. They seem magical.

I finally spotted it. It was just the shadow of the hummingbird reflected on the awning we were sitting under. But I watched as it flitted around, back and forth between flowers.

You would think from my reaction that I had never seen a hummingbird. But I actually see them regularly. There's a tree near our house that they love.

But still, without fail, if I happen to notice one, it stops me in my tracks. I watch it. I usually try to get a picture of it, but I have yet to get a good one. I just love watching them buzz around. Their wings beat so quickly, and they're so delicate—it seems impossible that they're real.

And again, they're a regular part of my life. It's not that I see them all the time, but I probably see one almost every week when it's warm and they always fill me with wonder. 

A few things like that in my life stop me when I see them; they catch my breath. Here are five things that still feel magical to me:

1. Hummingbirds
2. Rainbows
3. Lightning
4. Raindrops on flowers
5. The moment the sun dips down over the horizon and all the light in the clouds turn off

These are things that, when I see them, I feel as if I've experienced a moment of magic. It reminds me that the world is filled with wonders. And even though I understand logically how they exist, they still seem like illusions. Somehow these things take me out of the rhythm of my everyday existence and remind me that there's a whole universe of amazing things out there.

And because they have that effect on me, they remind me how lucky I am to be where I am. They give me a moment to feel gratitude for the nice life I have.

So I am always grateful when I have these moments in my life.

***

Toni here. Here are a few things on my list of life's magical displays:

1. Hummingbirds (Yup!)
2. In spring, the sight of tender leaf buds just beginning to sprout out of bare-branched trees
3. Recognizing a constellation in the night sky
4. The sound of a gentle wind rustling the leaves 
5. The delicate-looking hermit thrush who visits my yard
6. The moon at its fullest

Mara and I would love to know what makes you stop in your tracks!