Its been a busy few days here and I am amazed at how quickly life just jumps in and fills up the space once you give it just a little bit of an opening. And no I am not complaining. I haven't figured out if this past weekend was the last summer weekend, or the kickoff of fall. Certainly my fall schedule begins in earnest this week, and the often empty days of summer have been banished.
Friday was filled from dawn to dusk, beginning with my daily walk, watching the sunrise and barely making it home in time to get to work: volunteer work answering phones, but on a schedule nonetheless. In the afternoon I rushed home and started baking in preparation for an evening social event, a picnic/potluck on the lawn, a chance to meet new people, and a local band playing favorite songs from my youth. What can be better than sitting in the grass staring up at a cloudless September sky, with a glass of wine and new friends?
I think I spoke to more people than I probably had in months. All the baking paid off as well. There is nothing like a batch of chocolate chip cookies as a conversation starter for those of us who are small-talk challenged.
The band continuing playing until ten. Just as darkness fell, the band played Black Water, that 1974 hit from the Doobie Brothers, and it reminded me of another outdoor concert long ago. I had my first real kiss dancing outdoors in the dark to that song, with a boy from another town, a boy who didn't know me as the girl in the Milwaukee brace... Of course I'd been out of that brace for a year that summer evening, but I grew up in a small town, where it is hard to escape the backward pull of history. Even a late start is a start afterall and that song always reminds me of the joy and wonder of new beginnings.
And yes I danced a bit this weekend as well; I couldn't not dance after all that. I'd forgotten what a joy it is to just forget oneself and just dance.
But that was just the beginning of a weekend filled with friends, family, food, and fellowship. But not to worry, amidst all the hullaballoo there was also some quiet time, time to retreat and just let my mind wander, to read a book, to enjoy the silence. Perhaps not quite enough time, but sometimes it is good to let abundance overflow. And then of course, there was baseball. There is nothing quite like watching very small boys playing their first baseball game: the eagerness, the determination, the joy.
Life is good.
