I sit down to write this at 12:01 AM on Tuesday morning after an unplanned night of grocery shopping, sonic, and singing at the top of my lungs to old songs with the windows rolled down in my best friend’s car. While I planned on spending the night on zoom calls, watching lectures, and possibly fitting a documentary with my roommate in there, it didn’t happen like that. But, sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan, and that’s okay! 

I really struggled with thinking of what to write about this week, because while there is nothing incredible happening in life, there also isn’t anything super detrimental at the moment either. I was in my bible study this past week and we did highs and lows (aka good things and bad things in life at the moment). I was listing high after high but could not think of any lows when asked. Then today I was sitting on the couch with my roommate and I was explaining how I’m just content with life as it is, and she said maybe that is a reason to blog. And she is right, life doesn’t always have to be at a super high high or a really low low to be memorable. You can enjoy where you are, even when it seems like you are just wading in between the two.

So with that, I want to share some things I have been celebrating in life recently. One thing I really have been loving is the sunshine. Spring has officially sprung and it’s like summer is already here because it is hot. I tanned outside today, and the freckles are out (don’t tell my mom)! I got to go home this weekend to celebrate Easter with my family which was so good for my soul. And I got to go to church in person and celebrate Resurrection Sunday and dance around to Glorious Day worshiping with others. It is absolutely insane to think about where we were at this point last year, completely stuck at home, not knowing when this pandemic was going to end or how it was going to affect us. And yes, it isn’t over just yet, but we have taken so many steps to getting there. For example, I am officially fully vaccinated, what a reason to celebrate. I can see my grandma without a mask on and not have to be constantly worried. Little by little, life is starting to feel a tiny bit more normal.

Another reason I have been celebrating life recently is because I have amazing friends who rally behind me in every circumstance. I am diving deeper into the Word than I ever have and used this “pandemic year” to truly learn what my worth is (that’s a topic for another time). Celebrating life for me looks like seeing family, eating icecream at 10 PM in the Dairy Queen parking lot, taking walks with my roommate to catch up on our days, listening to new music in the car, getting new flowers at Trader Joes, doing line dances on Saturday nights and so much more. Even though we may be in this limbo right now where life seems to just be pretty mundane, there is still so much about life to celebrate.

So, to the girl who is celebrating life, I hope you take this opportunity to look at little daily tasks a little closer. I hope you can find reasons every day to celebrate you just being alive. Life doesn’t always go according to plan, and sometimes we need to stop trying to take control and just let life do it’s thing. Slow down, people watch, sit under a tree, post that selfie, visit with old friends, and find things to be grateful for. If we can find one thing that makes us want to celebrate life just a little bit more, even in a pandemic, we will all go to bed a little bit happier.