Is there beauty in the mundane?

I saw a post recently of pictures of Motherhood and how beautiful the mundane moments are. It made me want to share pictures from my deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. These are just a handful of some of the quiet moments that were taken by our amazing Public Affairs team. A moment captured in time. Instead of being quickly forgotten.

Beauty in the Mundane: Afghanistan

MRAPs out on patrol

As the sun sets you can see the MRAP gunner turet

from the back of my MRAP

3 young boys watching the Americans

A shura with a local village and the PRT

Meeting in Mahmood a Raqi (Department of Women Affairs)

a solider talking to three young boys

a young boy with his father

standing outside a school under construction

taking photos of someone taking a photo

My Afghanistan Story

These pictures tell a story of my time in Afghanistan. Sometimes I was so focused on the danger or the fact I was ready to go home. I forgot to look around and enjoy the beauty that makes up the people and the country of Afghanistan. My deployment changed my life. And because of the mission, I was sent on I was able to see so many different parts of this beautiful country, and am glad I am able to share my story with you here.

Now as a mom do I stop enough. Do I take time to enjoy the moments or am I constantly rushing? My son often finds pennies. Pennies I don’t even see. I used to be annoyed he wanted to stop to pick up a penny. But now I realize he takes in more of the world than I ever see. So take the time to stop. Enjoy the moments. What is the hurry anyway?

I linked up with The Wounded Dove for this post.