Hey, friends, welcome back to picture love. As I just clicked record on my computer, my dog started to bark, and then I could hear the dogs across the street who are two Great Danes who look so small from far away, and then as you get up close, it's like approaching a huge horse sized dog with the deepest barks and the biggest hearts. And I'm reminded of so many synchronicities happen right when we don't realize we need them the most. I'm not going to edit this out. So if you hear the barking in the background, it's, it's quite on topic. And I'm giggling because I wanted to share with you a childhood memory. Um, a secondhand memory, actually, of the dog I grew up with and her name was Peaches. And you don't have to be a dog lover to appreciate where the story will end up, but if you'll just stick with me, I'm just going to reminisce for a minute and picture love through the perspective of a little girl whose dog was her first sister. So peaches was a gift to my family around the time I turned one year old. So being the big sister, being the firstborn in my family, peaches was my first sibling. Four legged, of course. And she chose my bed as her bed and that meant when I slept at night, I had this warm, snuggly family member keeping my feet warm. sometimes right when I went to bed or sometimes later on if the details are fuzzy, but the point is the companionship of this pet who meant the world to me. One of the fun stories that I love to reminisce over was how my bedroom windows Looked out on my neighbor's roof. And there was a neighborhood cat that frequented their roof. And that gave the two bedroom windows over my bed the bird's eye view. of a cat who would sometimes run around on the neighbor's roof. Well, Peaches could not handle it. Peaches did not interact directly with any cats, and so there was the dog instinct to protect a house and home. And she would, of course, bark when somebody would come to the door, whether it was the paperboy, whether it was the mailman, whether it was, you know, announcing the arrival of guests. So imagine when this frisky feline would make its presence known, right where Peaches was sleeping and looking out and protecting Her family, and there was one time where apparently she got so worked up barking outside the window at this cat that she, she really got herself all worked up and I was sound asleep. I. Had to be I would say seven or eight years old. I'm guessing. And her barking was so loud it woke up the entire family with the exception of yours, truly. And then hearing my mom retell the story of how peaches woke everybody up, except me, it was so funny to visualize the picture of this little poodle standing on my bed pillow, straddling my face as I am off in dreamland, and she is barking her little poodle head off out the window. And I literally never woke up. I must have felt so safe in my own bed. I must have felt so, so deep. Deep in sleep that I was unaware of my physical body and the fact that this dog's little tummy was probably tickling my face. And the fact that she could be barking her little brains out and wake everybody up in all the other bedrooms, but not right there. An inch above my face, I think is pretty miraculous. And it was a lot of fun to hear my mom's version of that story growing up. It's been a while since I've heard her tell that story, actually, but peaches was my first dog. And now my Beasley is my second dog. She's the first dog I ever had as an adult, you know, now that I'm the mommy and I cannot honestly say. That if she started barking at any night, I have been able to reach the same kind of completely leave my body sleep that I did as a child. And part of that is because, well, I'm a mom now and you get programmed. But it sure is fun to recall how protected I was back then and how protected I feel right now with not just my fur babies, but my life. And these are fun stories I'm so grateful to have, and I actually have, a picture of me, probably a year or two year old. I was one or two years old with peaches and eating with my little toddler. Dishes and making a mess, but there is me and my little bestie having a meal together and I'm just so grateful to have little snapshots of these moments from childhood and present day that keep me company, not to stay in the past, but to just measure back and see how loved and protected I have felt at different stages of my life. And it stirs up just layers and layers of gratitude. And I'm not going to say that everything is warm and fuzzy, but moments like this, moments like these are the ones that I love to tell my kids. And I love to reminisce as they retell stories that are special to them too. Not just about pets, but those little snapshots in life that Make it so easy to picture love. So I encourage you today to look back and see what is an easy to reach memory. I don't care how far back, whether it's a week, a year, a decade or longer, but just find something that's light and easy to attach to for just a few minutes that makes that involuntary smile on your face. And. Come to think of my dogs. I had an interesting experience that's been happening a lot lately. I love to walk my dog in the mornings before I get to my desk and do some work. And I've noticed lately that every time I take my dog out, On a walk, I find an old, scratched up copper penny on the road. And I, and I, without even thinking about it, I always pick it up and put it in my pocket. And then it occurred to me today, that this has been happening consistently. And it may be mindful that I need to start paying attention to these little synchronicities because I really don't believe in coincidences. I believe that things happen for a reason and there's always messages. It's a matter of, are we paying attention to them? Well, today on my walk, I was so excited because my husband decided to join me, it felt good to be out in the fresh air. And I looked down and I found not one, but two scratched up copper pennies. So I picked them up and I added them to my collection. And I'm discovering that there has not been a walk in the last two weeks when I have not picked up a scratched up copper penny. And, uh, I believe one of them was even a dime, mostly copper pennies. And I just found them so There's something in it. There's something to these messages that I've clearly been overlooking. They're always tails up, never heads up. And it occurred to me today, after I was in this beautiful rocks and minerals story yesterday, I was watching, I was eyeing a shelf of copper. Mined copper and I thought, maybe I should start carrying copper in my pocket. I just was thinking from the, from the perspective of, you know, an aid grounding and life, and then I realized life has been handing me copper on a regular basis. And so my takeaway right now is. Life has been handing me tangible reminders to stay grounded in the present moment. That's, that's where I'm going with this right now. And I know if you look it up, there's lots of spiritual meaning behind, you know, pennies from heaven or messages from loved ones. And I don't doubt any one of them. As a matter of fact, I have more family stories. Some of my heritage connected to Copper Hill, Tennessee here in the States, but I don't want to digress. I want to ask you to ask yourself right now, are there some synchronicities that have been happening, little patterns that if you were too distracted, you might have overlooked, and maybe they've been happening time and time again, and maybe you didn't give them the attention that they need, because I found that when I'm getting a message like this, the message keeps coming over and over and over, Until I start to pay attention to the message attached to them. So I'm very curious to know if tomorrow I see any pennies at all, or if I see two or maybe even three this time, but I do know that the next time I pick up a penny in the street, I am being told that I am supported, I am loved and to stay grounded in the present moment and to stay grounded in gratitude. Because I'm here to help us continue to have conversations about picturing love. And I think that there's no greater way to ground into the present moment than doing it from a spirit of love. If any of that resonates with you today, I would just love to know, what are some of the synchronicities that you have been discovering or that you're going to discover as a result of listening to this quick little chat today? And here's another way to up the ante a little bit. Let's picture love by taking The mundane, the routine, what is something that you do all the time, whether it's washing dishes in the sink, whether it's picking up the mail from the mailbox, whether it's feeding a pet or a loved one, or even something like paying the bills. Or folding some laundry. What is one thing that you do all the time that can suddenly become a way of picturing love and grounding in love and gratitude in the present moment? I had a dear friend, um, back in my, my old state who gave me a fresh perspective on laundry. And she said, Kris, when I fold laundry. It's like, I say, a prayer of gratitude for the loved ones whose laundry I'm washing and folding and taking to the rooms. And it's an act of love and appreciation for that relationship in my life. And I never looked at laundry the same again. And today, when I washed dishes, it was so nice to just look down and say, I'm so grateful for the mouthes that I can feed because. I love them so much. And I'm grateful for these loved ones in my life. So would you please make the effort with me to notice the moments that you can ground in the present and picture love more deeply, even in the mundane. I hope that that resonates with you today. Until next time, keep picturing love my friend, and I'll see you next week.