Sunday, April 24, 2016

Gratitudes + things that are making me happy

  • The brand-new ballet my mom and I saw last week - small excerpt above! Invigorating and just delightful
  • How the sand felt under me when I sat cross-legged on the beach in the evening of a hot day
  • Cozy socks and a cozy beanie
  • Finally getting a bike helmet, as a birthday present - and a nice one, at that, for the first time
  • Letting myself read and enjoy books which do not require a lot of effort and concentration
  • Hours of snacks and tea and feminism with friends
  • Going to bed early enough to sit up against my pillows and read before I reach the point of drooping eyelids
  • Beginning to build my own "I'm a Grown-Up with My Own Home" Harry Potter set
  • Wonderful springtime clouds
  • That one of my kindred spirit friends from college will be moving to the Bay Area soon, and that I got to hang out with her while she was visiting to check out apartments
  • Sitting down and drinking a full glass of water mindfully
  • An invitation/a thought of visiting an old friend in LA
  • Having letters to reply to (the positive flip-side of feeling behind on replying to letters?)
  • Wandering around a yuppie retail part of Oakland with my dad, admiring the wares in all the yuppie stores (graceful stoneware, adult coloring books, exceedingly precious locally made baby clothes, etc.)

Thursday, April 21, 2016

For myself, stitches

I have had a rough week. So all day long in my head I'm admiring - my surroundings, the circumstances of today. Forming thoughts carefully.

The formula is: "How..." or "What a...":

How nice the air feels here. What a beautiful city to work in. How lucky to work near a place that makes tasty burritos. What an energizing walk to be able to take on my lunch. What a wonderful view from the top of this hill. What good memories I have from that summer. How beautiful the landscape was. What a precious opportunity that was. How very many interesting and excellent things there are to think about.

And so on, and so on. This is what I'm doing today, as if I were knitting to keep my thoughts busy instead of my hands. When I get to the end of my rope, there's another rope, something new to try, something old to try. And when I get to the end of my knitting, there's a scarf to keep warm with. And so on, and so on.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

NaPoWriMo #6

My grandpa at the beach
said, "We say it
smells like the sea
here, but sailors
say:
'It smells like land.'"

And I wonder:
Is that how it is here
on the coast
of you, of me?