The year began quietly, a welcome relief from the endless New Year’s fireworks. Brilliant sunshine streaming through our wide glass panels. We stayed inside – the wind was blowing steady and hard at speeds over 30 mph. One look at the people outside struggling to walk convinced us to enjoy the daylight from the comfort of our sofa. A day of leftovers and contemplation.
What’s interesting is our responses to our situation. It feels unreal to my wife that we are here. It’s joyful, thrilling, and puzzling in the ways that any country you have lived in for most of your life is when it changes dramatically while you’ve been away. The place you thought you knew is no longer there. What is there is a reflection of what had once been and the ongoing present. Our memories are pale blonde. The present we confront is an unexpected tapestry of colors.
For me, the experience, this adventure, blossoms at the rate flower petals unfold. I am present. No more, no less. Basking in the rays of a fleeting sun.
Being present is a good thing, brother. Everything starts from that, whether weather is cloudy or sunny, or the locale is new or old.