Spring calls for cleaning: mopping long-overdue floors; organizing a cluttered pantry with the windows and doors wide open; dancing to loud happy music and the neighbor cat peering in to see what the fuss is all about; moving plants out to the porch; hauling our recycling to the recycling place- with my heart in my throat the whole way for the sheer joy of the day... oh glorious warm, sunshiny day!
(yes, I may have had the peanut butter and chocolate out with me too...)This evening I decided not to do any of my work- not even to think about it. I ambitiously took my sketchbook, my journal, my water, my phone and my book out to the back porch... I made some tea and I sat. I did read some, but mostly I just sat. I looked out on Barclay Elementary and watched the line of sunlight move slowly across the playground. It was quiet save for the noises of the end of a day... the breeze gently knocking the wind-chimes now and again, the little boy crying next door, a dog in a yard across the way sitting expectantly at the door waiting to be let in. Birds twittering about. A group of high-school boys moved into view and walked slowly across the playground. As I sat drinking my tea from my perch on our second floor porch, I had had this feeling of being at Tarangire-- washed up and sunkissed after a full day of swimming and being out on top of landrovers-- sitting on those blue chairs, feet up on the wall, quietly watching a herd of elephant move slowly in, stop for a drink, muck around a bit, and move on... Two girls came out of the house next to the one with the little dog with a frisbee and a soccer ball.. kicked it around while their grandpa stood by. It was the first time in a long time I just sat, and soaked in where I'm at, and just appreciated the moment. Many moments, I couldn't bring myself to come in staying till it was dark... until my phone finally rang and my happy solitude was interrupted by a happy conversation with my mom.
I was thinking of all those moments of sitting-tea-drinking-contentment in my life, in different places all over the world with different people at different times. Time is a funny thing, and some day soon, this place that I am in will join all those other places fondly in my memory. Somehow that makes me sad. Its exciting too, to think about the new places around the corner, and the new people I have yet to drink tea with. For now, I simply want to be fully in and thankful for all that is.
"Each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and its consequences and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a time like this, between act and act where you may stop and simply be."
~Ursula K. LeGuin, The Earthsea Trilogy
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your day, my friend. My weekend was not at all restful, but the fact that you had such a lovely day makes me feel a little bit of that restfulness and joy . . .
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