Seeing hearts…

I don’t know exactly when it started, but there was a day when hearts starting popping up in my world. At the beach, in the sky, in my food. No, I’m not kidding. It was weird. But it was so wonderful.

I’m pretty sure that God planted these sweet little buggas for me as a reminder that He loves me and enjoys seeing me smile. But more than that, finding them felt like a warm hug from my dad. And when you’re 3,852 miles (yes exactly. Thanks Google.) from your dad, little reminders are a big deal.

I would post the pictures of “hearts in nature” on social media because I love to share happiness. I must have posted often because soon enough, friends would tag me in “I found a heart and thought of you!” posts and texts. It really warmed my heart. (pun not intended. Ha!)

I still find them frequently and I usually take a photo (can you ever have too many photos!?) because that’s how I roll. My family likes to playfully tease me because I do have a bit of an obsession. One of my friends even made me a “jar of hearts” so that I have a place to keep some of my very favorites.

As I scroll through my iPhone, I see them pop up and started thinking about all the joy that these hearts have brought to me. And all the places that I’ve seen them! Here’s just a few:

I’ve found them while hiking:

and while cooking:

and while walking on the beach:

One of my favorites is the time I was stuck in traffic on the pali heading from Lahaina to Kahului and I decided to pull off, set up a beach chair in the back of my pick-up and watch the sunset. And then.. the sun looked like a heart. You really can’t make this stuff up:

Dodging puddles:

Walking down sidewalks:

Chopping sweet potatoes:

And then that time I slipped and fell and bruised my knee and my ego. It was in front of a bunch of people and I felt like a big dummy. My husband said: “Stop. Hand me your camera. Hurry…” I mean, he wasn’t even concerned with the fact that my knee hurt so bad from the slip. He took a few pictures of my knee and hands me back my camera. Muddy crash print in the shape of….

Sipping coffee:

Waterfall hiking:

Walking out of aerial yoga:

That time when my husband had to push my dog Meli into a wave so she could catch a ride back to shore. I caught a picture and it kinda blew my mind:

Sugar cubes at an event:

Walking my dog:

Crossing a stream:

Sometimes it felt like they were everywhere I looked:

Sunsets:

Sunrises:

All alone:

and with a group of friends:

Sometimes they would be tricky to see until you really looked close:

Sometimes it’s almost if they were jumping out of the picture at you:

I mean, it is kinda crazy-awesome, yeah?

And sometimes, that crazy little obsession would even rub off on my dear darling husband. I came back to my truck while we were at the beach and found this:

How can they not make you smile!?

My husband says: “You’ll find what you’re looking for.” and I whole-heartedly believe that’s true. I find myself looking for hearts and that might explain why I see them so often. But in a world that’s so full of stressful things and daily hustle-bustle, finding something to slow us down and fix our focus on joy, is a really good thing.

I shall keep looking up, down, in my food and even in the palm trees:

Hearts from me to you,

~Bridgett