Today is enough

Sunday Missive

Himself one evening, when he thought he’d found an edge piece. To taste. - KMR

Today (Saturday, as I write Sunday’s post) was a rare day of leisure: no appointments, no work, nothing that had to be done today. I took full advantage of it. Not that a day has to be fully open in order to be enjoyed; indeed, working joy and leisure into every single day when and wherever possible is the key to staying hopeful and healthy. It wasn’t that long ago, however, when the soundtrack installed in most of us to be “productive” above everything else would have resulted in some amount of frustration, guilt, and disappointment for not having checked off things accomplished from the ubiquitous “To Do” list.

One of my friends and I have rebranded the label “lazy” as “efficient.”

If a major recession, pandemic, and reality-show failure doing his best to destroy our way of life are not cumulatively enough to wake us up to living life in a more authentic, fulfilling and honest way, then nothing will.

This was my beautiful day:

• Reveled in the 40° F day, including watching the sidewalk and path become clear and dry. I haven’t seen it that way since Halloween.

• Savored two mugs of locally-roasted coffee.

• Listened to one of my favorite albums ever, Ella and Louis, Can’t We Be Friends? from 1956 on Verve. Just. Soul-filling.

• Noticed that sunshine on black fur reveals multiple shades of black, gray, and luscious milk chocolate.

• Repotted an aloe plant, which looks so much happier already. (And this time, I let it sit for a couple of days beforehand so the stem would dry. Hoping for a good result!)

• Used the warm rinse water from doing dishes to fill a tray and let the African Violets sit in a spa bath for an hour.

• Felt happy to see that there are some places under the cedar tree where the snow is gone, and the wildlife can touch warm (or at least non-frozen) earth.

• Watched—and laughed—as one of my cats stretched out in the abundant sunshine falling on the dining room table, oblivious to the jigsaw puzzle pieces that periodically plunked onto the floor as he shifted position near the edge, rolled, snoozed, and eventually stood up—with a few stuck to his side and back.

• Opened up the breezeway door to let fresh air and sunshine in, regardless of the temperature. As the kitchen door is used, some of that will end up in the house.

• Exhaled at different points during the day when the silence of no furnace(!) or other appliance or any other sounds were to be heard.

• Went outside onto the deck with just socks on my feet. No-boot bliss.

• Chose to do some organizing and cleaning that made me feel almost ecstatic.

• Read a thoroughly charming library book, The Fur Person, by May Sarton (a must-read if you appreciate cats.)

• Contemplated taking a nap, but was apparently rested enough to be distracted by a book I recently bought, so I did not take one (a minor miracle), and read instead.

• Texted with my daughter about a day to get together to re-dye my fuchsia hair and play with houseplants: i.e., trade plant babies and cuttings. Right now, we’re both growing bulbs indoors (the ones I didn’t get planted before the snow flew) and comparing notes. The Grape Hyacinths are a very pale purple, and have a sweet fragrance. The giant yellow Crocus haven’t sent up buds yet. I found a stout little aloe on sale and she’s been wanting one, so that will be a surprise.

• Picked up a fantastic Red Maranta (Prayer Plant) for my kitchen, on clearance.

• Read, ❤️, restacked, and commented on a bunch of Substack posts that improved my mood. (Incidentally, I love that the Substack text editor has under-squiggled in red that Substack is not a real word, or is misspelled. 🤣)

When I think about the people who are at war, as in Ukraine, or incarcerated, or hurting, in pain, or desolate, I cannot be but overwhelmingly grateful for all these bits of life that make me feel richer than any millionaire.

I hope your day is filled with the richness of life!

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