missing

Catching up, this was Sunday's challenge: what do you miss?

I miss the last house we lived in before moving to Colorado. I miss the wide open living room and kitchen, I miss the yard and how well our landlord kept it looking.I miss the great big tree in the front yard, even though it made us a bit nervous any time it got very stormy. I miss the great big peony bushes that our next-door neighbor kept along the border of our two yards.

I miss walking around that neighborhood, and the veiw of the mountains from our street. I miss how quiet and peaceful that neighborhood was.
I miss my family. I miss being able to hang out with my sisters. I miss living within walking distance to my moms (We're going back about 6 years there.) I miss the neighborhood I grew up in, even though I didn't appreciate it as much at the time – always wishing for something better when I already had something pretty great. I miss the building I grew up going to church in, I miss the stain glass window at the back of the chapel.

I miss my high school art class, I miss having access to so many materials and time where I could just listen to music and make beautiful messes.

I miss California, and hope to go back for a visit soon.

I miss all of those things, and sometimes that feeling of missing hurts. But all I have to do is look around myself now, at my messy living room and giggling children, at my less-than-ideal neighborhood and the great view of the sunset that I get from my front porch... As I look around at each imperfectly perfect part of my life right now, I'm able to forget the pain of missing a little bit. And I know that, even with the imperfections of this time in my life, in a year or two down the road, when things have changed as they do with time, I will find that I miss this. And that is why I take a million + 1 pictures every day.