Appreciation is the only word I can come up with to describe today. I had a beautiful ride from NY back to Cape Cod. The weather was warm, the traffic was sparse, and the music was inspiring. Upon arriving home, after awhile I began to realize the house was extra cold. I went down to check the furnace, and sure enough it was blinking an error message. I called the guy and he came and fixed it in twenty minutes – at 4pm no less. Tell me that right there isn’t enough to make appreciation the word of the day.
Sorting through some mail I found a catalog for a local jeweler. In it was a picture of a “wave” necklace my husband gave me before I retired. I wore that necklace everyday in anticipation of my life by the sea. Over the last three years many other necklaces replaced it. I usually use necklaces like touchstones – whatever I wear it’s usually to remind me of something or someone. I’ve been on a journey this past year that took me “away” in my mind from my ocean life. Today when I saw the picture of that necklace, I went upstairs to find it. I wanted to get back to my “ocean” life. I wanted to put things I’ve been preoccupied with this past year behind me, finally, and take a new look at the things that surround me here. I put on the necklace and left for yoga.
It was a perfect yoga class. Favorite teacher, perfect room, perfect breathing, lots of energy, and, in savasana, I took the whole twenty seconds each time to notice the necklace and appreciate what it stood for. Perfect peace.
Driving home I felt another defining moment had just taken place. I moved another giant step forward in the healing process. I feel like I dropped almost the last of the baggage left over from 2011. And, while tonight this is a great feeling, it’s tomorrow and the days following that will tell for sure. I’ve done this before. Felt a defining step forward, only to stumble a few steps backward, so I’ve learned not to get too excited in these moments of perfect peace. It usually doesn’t last, but it leaves it’s mark. That’s where the necklace will matter. I’ll see it and touch it and remember the moments I experienced tonight and let the present keep me here, in the present.
And so, as another day goes by, I appreciate touchstones, great weather, perfect breath, and prompt service, and…I have written.
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