I am sitting here at my table in the living room. It is 11 o’clock at night. The television is on in the other room at a volume where I can make out a few words, just loud enough to be distracting. I am tired. I can feel fatigue behind my eyes. I have been editing for my students today and my right eye began to twitch a few hours back. Too much squinting, I suppose. Eye strain, perhaps. The wind is blowing hard outside. The sky is dark with bright white stars. No clouds can withstand that wind. Palm fronds are strewn haphazardly on the streets. Today was 75 degrees and gloriously clear. Tomorrow promises to be the same.
I can hear our cat, William, meowing outside. He has a cat door in the back of the house, but he sounds as if he’s out front. The dogs are on alert. Cordelia’s toenails are clicking on the floors; Sammie is not far from her side. Now Liz’s boyfriend, Ron, has arrived and I can hear the two of them talking quietly in the den. Their voices are conversational and happy. They are glad to see each other after this long day. Ray has headed upstairs to bed. He will be lying in bed watching television when I go up. Perry Mason is his new favorite. Not so much for the story line, but for all the images of Los Angeles in the 1950’s and early ‘60’s. Ray loves LA, so seeing how the city was then versus now makes him happy.
My lips are dry from the wind. I will get a glass of water before heading upstairs. I will take my bath and crawl into bed with a husband who might already have drifted off to sleep.
I wish I had something profound to say. I don’t. Today was one of those days where I got tasks accomplished that needed doing and that’s about it. I didn’t have a major event occur. The best part of my day was going back and forth through the back yard as I carried trash to the dumpster in the alley. Why was that so good? Because the sky was so clear, the air so clean, the temperature so perfect that I felt like a little kid again playing in my back yard. The sunlight filtered through the leaves on the avocado tree making everything feel muted and safe. Yes, I was five-years-old again playing under the big pecan tree in north central Texas. Heaven.
So, off I go to bed. Nothing too important to share tonight. Instead, I’m just looking forward to tomorrow and another clear, pretty day. Maybe I’ll pull the weeds out of my garden and replant it with new vegetables. That would be a worthy endeavor.
But until then, I’ll close. Happy Tuesday to all. I hope you had a few simple pleasures in your day today. Sometimes that is all it takes to be happy.
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