Pearls...

Some days are like little pearls. They are precious and small. Unpretentious and simple.

Those days pop open like little surprises. Days you didn't expect. Days to be experienced among the struggles, worries and strife. Sometimes things are so hard here that I forget how wonderful my life can be.

When I tucked my boy into bed on his birthday he told me it was his best birthday EVER. When we rode the train on Saturday he glowed with sheer happiness.

For a brief time we didn't care about fitting in. We didn't miss being back East. There wasn't anywhere else we wanted or needed to be. We left the uptight masses screaming at their kids inside the train cars huddled around the wood stoves. We went to the open air cars and almost had them to ourselves. The cold air blowing in our face and the views unobstructed. We laughed and enjoyed the ride. There was no screaming at anyone to sit down, no complaining about not being able to see out the window, no fighting.

Those were two good days. Two pearls I'll treasure.