thursday 15 june 2017 circa 6:31 am
A page from my journal:
I sit down at the table! Oops, I start writing with my Tombow - the phone rings. Who might that be at this early hour? Quickly, I get up to answer - yes, it's the landline - and see it's my friend Pat. Quizzical? Oh yes, she must have heard me thinking about her for she leaves this weekend for Aruba. I answer the phone and query: "Did you hear me thinking about you?" She sez: "I didn't want you to think I'd fallen off the face of the earth and ..." We chat for a few minutes - she's waiting for the coffee to brew. I, my tea to cool - which reminds me that I'm thinking of resuming coffee in the AM and I myst remember to send Hilary an email, re: her coffee pot; coffee grinder; and coffee beans. I don't recall that Zeke's sells brewers. Must inquire the next time I go...maybe tomorrow for Journal Club and another Bingo square...Oh, the many, many years I drank coffee - I recall when I first began so well...NTS: another story for AMAZe (my acronym for my About Me: A-Z project).
After I sat down, tea brewed, I thought about this morning routine - MSQT - that has been mine for nearly, if not, two decades and counting- begun when I realized I needed some time for moi - ME TIME. A busy work schedule characterized by long work days, out of the house early, often dark early; late evening meetings or classes to teach, continuing with old and beginning with the new: more staff to supervise, understand, assist, support. Precious little time and energy for me to read, relax, reflect, refresh, renew. So, I carved out time in the early morning, when the world was still quiet, just awakening.
Then, in the living room for the addition wasn't built...and I don't recall that I sat on the back porch -which became the Great Room and new kitchen. There, as now, I sat surrounded by books, paper, pens to capture my thoughts, ideas; making lists; nurturing and understanding my feelings; taking care of me. Not knowing then, of course, what I now know. Never contemplating that "in the future," I'd be sitting not on the back porch or the front living room but at a table:
- looking out at a green vista and today, grey skies;
- hearing birdsong and early morning traffic both on the ground and in the sky - the distant roar of a jet plane taking off at National Airport and a metro train, just blocks away, cruising into the station;
- giving thanks for the day and cooler temperatures.
I stop writing to take another sip of tea and check the weather: mostly cloudy and mainly dry; less humid. High 85 degrees. Very tolerable, considering...
Time for a second cuppa tea. Think I'll read a while...soon it'll be time to take a walk and get on with my day.
Simply*A*Moment is the time on the 15th of each month when I stop, pause to document the moments: what I see, hear, smell, touch, feel, remember.