27/365- Fairmont Princess, Scottsdale

Digital Art by Tracey Grumbach, artist

"Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it was different..." -James Baraz

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  While I am here on vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona, I have been focusing on being present in the moment, trying to rest my weary body and mind. I've been fighting off what I am assuming is a virus the kids brought home from the first weeks of school. While sitting outside under the cloudless azure sky, I close my eyes and concentrate on my senses. I hear the giggling of children playing in the pool. I hear the high, almost metallic, call of the rosy-faced lovebirds perched in the palms above my head. Their song mixes with the beat of the music streaming through the speakers at the bar. I smell the acidic chlorine from the pool barely overpowered by the wafting smells of grilled meats and fried potatoes from the pool grill.  I feel the hot, dry sun on my skin making it tingle as if it is close to burning.  I feel the air moving, almost undetectable, against the hairs on my arms and head, cool in nature with a lack of humidity. I breathe deep, feeling my belly expand as my chest fills with the air. I exhale slowly through my nose, imagining all the bad viruses and bacteria living in my body leaving my system and restoring my health.

I open my eyes to release the bright orange under my closed lids and I find myself squinting from the powerful brightness. I sheild my eyes and look above me at the stucco architecture, the ceramic barell tiles and I am drawn to the neutral colors of the style in a viceral way. It's like the buildings have sprung from the earth itself, a part of the natural landscape created from the same particles God used to create me, dirt, ashes, minerals. I think about how grateful I am to have this time to be still, to recover, to focus on myself and rest. I say a prayer of thanksgiving to the others who made this trip possible for me...my husband, my goddaughter, my son. Because of their love for me I can have this week to focus on myself. I am so thankful.

xo