Simple joys have always been important to me. The onset of spring is no exception and today was a blue-skied beginning that worked its magic on my spirit.
When I dropped someone off at the airport, I could have easily, so easily, kept on driving. It was a day for a road trip, for adventure, cool sun-filled air, and deep fresh breaths.
Alas, it was also a day for responsibility, so I returned to my work and took care of what needed doing.
After a while indoors with emails, phone calls, and planning, it was time to run errands. I just couldn’t imagine only looking at the day outside…I wanted to be IN IT; so off I went on the mundane errands a day can call for…adventures of a different sort.
And oh, the treasure…
I picked up a copy of a favorite childhood book as a present for a friend and had a lovely ten-minute conversation with the woman at the counter about the value of reading aloud and sharing simple moments in good company.
Upon leaving, I found myself on the sidewalk walking toward a woman I have been running into all over this part of the city in the last number of weeks. I have no idea what her name is but we both enjoy the random encounters and greet one another with a big smile. We haven’t ever had a conversation beyond wishing one another a good day and yet the smiles we exchange stay with me.
Coming home through Victoria park, I ran into a woman who comes to our house for Mass on Sundays. She introduced me to a neighbor and I helped them look for her neighbor’s family’s memorial brick in the walkway…and got a story about the neighbor having tamed crows in exchange for my hunting.
Between the park and the house, I was having a text exchange with a new friend and took two phone calls from people who wanted to sign up for a program at the Centre. A great combination of new life.
Rather than go up the drive and in the back, I walked further on so I could make the turn and go in the front. Some urge had me tuck inside the fence line to look at the blueberry bushes and while bending over them, looking for signs of new growth, I turned and saw one lone crocus blooming in its blue-purple fullness beneath the rhododendron—a delicate sign of light, promise, and the return of color.
It was a lovely day today.
Thank you, God, for such simplicity as this.
I read that this morning while sitting in the embrace of a natural cathedral…the centre, the heart, of the Public Gardens. For the first time this season, the air was buoyed by a kiss of springtime; dormant colors had shaken off their outer layers, determined to begin a strength regimen toward regaining full, wakeful, glory; the textures of all that was alive seemed to be flexing, stretching forth, jockeying for a place in the sun that would ease stiff creases and freshen the dusty gauze.
