At First Glance

There's something about a freshly mowed lawn.

The prominent lines from the mower wheels.

The smell of the grass clippings.

The brilliant shade of green, accentuated by sun and shadows.

I always take a picture when I'm done.

From the same vantage point.

Because it makes me smile.

At first glance, my lawn looks lush and green.

But if you went out and walked around my yard, you'd find plenty of imperfections.

Holes where the critters dig.

Divots where the branches fell when we took down the dead ash trees six years ago.

Bare spots in the front yard where the city put in the new water main, and the grass seed didn't completely take.

I'm probably the only one who notices them, though.

Because everybody else who walks by only takes that first glance.

They see a freshly mowed, lush, green lawn.

Only the people closest to me know about its imperfections.

It's funny how similar my lawn is to my actual life.

At first glance, it may look like I have it all together.

But when you look closely...

I think I can speak for all of us when I say that no one on has it ALL together.

It's impossible.

We all have holes and divots and bare spots.

Nothing is as perfect as it seems at first glance.

And that's okay. In fact, that's how it's supposed to be.

If everything we owned stayed perfect, what fun would that be?

If we spent our lives worrying about the holes and the bare spots, I'm pretty sure we'd never have any fun.

The simple act of living is going to leave marks.

We try so hard to hide them.

Because we worry about what other people think.

When in reality, everyone is so busy worrying about their own imperfections, that they aren't really thinking about ours.

We're all only glancing at each other.

So why worry about it?

How about instead of worrying, we laugh when we see those divots and critter holes and bare spots?

And be grateful for a life well-lived.

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We Are the Sum of Our Choices