I sit in a coffee shop in a town I’ve never visited before, staring out at a river that winds its way through the afternoon. Ambient music hums with a steady tempo, syncing my heartbeat to its rhythm. Outside the window, flowers sway gently as a feather dances along an invisible thread of wind. Sunlight flickers across the underside of the leaves, casting shimmering patterns as the river reflects the sky, peeling open the shadows beneath the trees. It’s one o’clock on a Thursday, and everything feels suspended. A bit soft and sacred…as one often feels when they are experiencing the present moment.

My mind drifts back to a few months ago, to the Fairchild Botanical Gardens in Coconut Grove. I was there with one of my best friends, stealing a quiet moment between art shows. We wandered through that lush sanctuary just outside Miami, our mouths ajar, marveling like children who were seeing the world for the first time. I was mesmerized by plants and flowers I’d never encountered, by trees that had withstood time and hurricanes alike—still standing, still glorious, still reaching for the sun. 

Since then, especially after losing two people who meant the world to me, I find myself holding tighter to the little things. The flight of a bumblebee. The rays of light spilling through a break in the clouds. Fresh spring leaves unfurling like tiny miracles. The sound of a child’s laughter. The smiles that bloom in my art booth. My dog’s paw on my leg, her head resting gently on my knee. Kissing Dr. Awesome after returning from another festival. The music in my sister’s hands as she plays the piano.

The list is endless.

These are the moments I choose to savor—the ones that nourish the soul far more than the numbers in my bank account, the car I drive, or the square footage of my house.

Experiences are my chosen currency.

If I’m lucky, I have 15,000 days left in this life.

I choose to live them fully, loving deeply, and noticing the beauty in even the quietest corners of the world.

***

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
— Oscar Wilde