Art & Ornament for your Wonderful Life

"Art & Ornament for your Wonderful Life."

That's the tag line I chose for my art and vintage business when I opened it way back in 2007. 

It came about because I was talking about my life after I had quit my job as a corporate recruiter and I was home with my kids and making things in my spare (ha!) time and a friend said "Oh, it's a wonderful life you have!" I agreed. 

I loved incorporating vintage and antique cast offs into modern homes.

Helping my clients create their own beautiful homes, a place that they were comfortable and happy in was my mission. 

Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" movie was a reminder that we all count. 

The world would be a different place if you weren't born or died before your time.

So Stifel & Capra was my homage to that thought and a reminder to take delight in every day life.

That was brought home to our family in a real way when my husband was hospitalized with strep throat run amok. 

It turned into scarlet fever, then sepsis, then other complications to numerous to recount here. 

Sadly, Bob ended up having to have his leg amputated from his infection. 

Terrifyingly, losing a leg didn't mean he was home free. 

It took quite awhile in the ICU, lots of prayers and plenty of modern medical professionals to bring him around so he could re-join the family.

Amazingly, what my kids and I remember most from that fraught time was being taken care of. 

Food on the stove, snow shoveled, kids carpools, a glass of wine, all appeared seemingly out of mid air, leaving us to concentrate on Bob's healing, therapies, and recovery.

Although life is not always easy, I find, it usually IS wonderful when you step back and look at the big picture. It certainly beats the alternative, for sure.

A friend commented on one of my social media posts last week that "But you are happier today than lots of people in their whole live. "

My answer?  "That is certainly a conversation we could have sitting on the deck but I will say that I am actually struggling right now with both my physical and my mental health and have to be aggressively proactive about creating good things in my life. There is a great old Abraham Lincoln quote that says "most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

I worry less about being happy and more about being grateful and content in my circumstances. That leads to happiness I think.

Some folks are never happy or content with their lives no matter what they have or what blessings they receive."

What about you? 

Are you fairly content in your circumstances or are you always searching for something? 

I used to be future oriented to a fault.

Rushing through my day, planning for the tomorrow that never arrived.

I am learning now to rest and wait. To try to be still. 

To listen and to heal. It's not always easy but it's usually full of wonder.

today is day 8 of #the100dayproject where I am attempting to write 100 days straight. 

Thanks for reading.  :)