A List

There are many things I want to do this week while I'm on my "staycation." I have no timeline, no deadlines, I'm just going to take each day as it comes. If I don't accomplish everything on said list, so be it. For now, I am going to enjoy being on my own for a few days. Here is my list:

• Upload some CD's to my iTunes so I can get rid of them.
• Revise my teaching statement for college/university applications.
• Read a novel.
• Write a piece or two for my blog.
• Prepare my screened patio for spending time out there with impending cooler weather.
• Bake a fall recipe.
• Shop for a vest for my son to wear to homecoming next weekend.
• Begin to plan for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday!)
• Prepare a kick-ass lesson plan for my college course.
• Get a massage.
• Watch a movie or two.

This morning was a perfect start to trying to live in the moment this week. I opened the blinds to the sliding glass door in the back to let in some natural light, and have a view of the beautiful preserve. I got company!

My friend Helen wrote this morning about feelings of frenzy and growing out of the habit of rushing around all the time. On a regular workday I would have thought, cool I wish I had the time to go out there and really see. Today, I opened the blinds, stepped outside on my patio, realized I wasn't really experiencing the nature from there, and stepped out off the patio into the mushy marshy, post-rain backyard and stood in awe. I let my freshly pedicured, bare feet just sink into the wet spongy earth and watched this avian convention. I stayed there and watched with the wet grass itchy around my ankles and the muddy water pooling around my feet. I stood in place listening to the sounds of nature around me, wild and alive! Eventually, one of the three left the meeting and flew off, maybe to look for food or perhaps a mate. It was an interesting gathering of three completely different birds, as though they were collaborating over some plan for the day.

And as I took it all in and returned to my computer, my eye was caught by a flash of white, swooping across the same glass door. It took me a moment to find the careful hunter, but there he was off in the rainwater pool, carefully searching for breakfast. Thank you nature, thank you G-d, for opening my vacation week with a reminder to just slow down and enjoy this beautiful life.