Still lots of rough moments at unexpected and unwelcome times, but it becomes normalized over time and that makes it easier to just enjoy the in between times.
I start every morning that I’m at home with a trip to my local café. It is definitely one of my happy places even if I don’t have the same engaged local crowd as I used to. There are a solid bunch of neighbours who are, well, neighbourly. The garden there is lovely, and I particularly love the redbud tree that shades more and more of the patio each year. It has suffered some street violence over the years, having a branch twisted off, but it has recovered and is a very generous being, offering remarkable pink blossoms in late spring and a reddish canopy through the summer and fall. It helps me remember that, even broken, recovery is possible and I have gifts to contribute regardless.
I don’t do it often, but it is lovely to lie back on the bench here at Sumach Espresso and look up through the leaves at the sky above. Not much else I can do when I’m laying prone, so it becomes a magical moment of nothing, of just being. For someone who generally feels like he needs to be doing, it is a small happy place.
I’m happily wearing my new t-shirt today. It seems particularly apt for my life right now.