It happened on an ordinary day

It began with a laugh. In the snack aisle, no less, at a local Target store.

It was Saturday night, and my husband and I were out on a date, running errands sans kids (well, as much "sans kids" as one can get if the little people have your cell phone number). I was poking along, looking at the chips and following along behind a mom and her three boys.

I didn't hear what he said, the littlest boy, but I heard his mama say, "Did you eat them off the floor?"

Sure enough. Looking down, I saw that somehow a bag of pretzels had come open and spilled over the shelf and across the floor.

"Oh, no," he said blithely, bending down. "I got them from here." And he stirred a little hand through the pile that was left on the dusty shelf.

I laughed out loud, understanding.

She turned around, that strawberry blond mother with a baseball cap, and said calmly with a smile, "I have five sons." I smiled back, thinking of my own four sons and their propensity for eating anything. Anywhere. At any time.

We talked, then, until our husbands came looking for us, marveling at everything we had in common:

1. Our oldest sons are both 20 and living on campus for the first time.
2. Our last babies were big, big, VERY big surprises.
3. We share the same faith.
4. She wears her hair long. So do I.
5. Our oldest son's name is her oldest son's middle name. Our baby's name is another son's middle name.
6. We both love Starbucks.
7. The pantry doors never close at her house or mine.

All of this (and more) we learned, we two mamas, in a cheerful exchange next to the pretzels. I left that night, feeling lifted up, happy because I'd made a connection and found a kindred spirit in an unexpected place.

Life, with the precious moments of which it's made, is happening all around if you have eyes to see. It's easy, I know, to slip into survival mode, to grit your teeth and just "get through."

Today, I challenge you to open your eyes and see - really see - the extraordinary moments in your ordinary days. It will lift you up. I know, because it happened to me on an ordinary day in the snack aisle.

Welcoming you fellow sojourners from Holy Experience who, too, seek to waste no time and to savor the ordinary moments in a common life...