So, it is summertime, and the livin’ is, well, you know. Not much has been happening, and that is a pure blessing. I used to pray for boredom, and I was serious. When I taught, the average number of decisions I made in a day numbered in the thousands. When I retired, I told people that I wanted my biggest decision of each day to be what color of sweat pants I would wear.
Then my life, as I knew it, fell to pieces, and that was definitely NOT boring. I moved across country, built a new life with new friends and new activities. I have been in full-blown “adventure mode” for four years or more, what with the falling apart and the falling together of my life. Now, I seem to have gotten my groove back. I didn’t think that would ever happen.
This summer, since I have been home from my extended stay in Wisconsin, I have been living easy. What I have noticed are the small, ordinary miracles of my life. They are not exciting, not extraordinary, not especially thrilling, but here they are…
An orange kitten who leaps into the air, vertically; a thunderstorm with driving rain; the church ladies coming to my tiny home for lunch; running into and chatting with two different neighbors on an early morning walk; cutting Black-eyed Susans for my house from my very own yard; spending the weekend at the lake, and joining a group of beautiful, brilliant, lively women for their book club discussion; talking with my sisters on the phone in the evening; volunteering; penpal-ing with my left-behind grandchildren in Arizona; mowing grass, planting flowers, and sitting on my deck with breakfast in the mornings; going to the library and reading books!; praying and answered prayers; talking with my former spouse on the phone, weekly; a puppy at my feet at nap time; nap time!; a bicycle ride; dinner out with the girls; playing BUNCO; yoga and weights at the Y; reading Magic Tree House books on his sofa with my little tutoring boy; spotting the first yellow and red maple leaf on the ground; seeing my brother with his oldest son, waiting for the bus on my nephew’s first day of high school; and all the miracles I am finding in my simple life.
They are actually pretty thrilling, after all.
Horton Hears Herself 