it's THAT day

I remember from last year's March challenge.
I knew there would be these days, days when I sit and think and look out the window and think and do other things and come back and stare at the computer screen and think and there is JUST NOTHING THERE. No slice of life. Nothing to share. Just blankness.

So today when that happened, I thought, Really? There is nothing in the last 24 hours worth reflecting on, worth sharing? What kind of life do you lead? And that makes me feel sorry either that I didn't have that kind of a day or that I didn't pay enough attention. So I'm focusing now. I'm making yesterday a series of snapshots--no certain order--but enough to let me know that I was present and that some of what happened is with me still.

There are buds on the flowering pear tree across our back fence. I noticed them last night as I stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing the cutting board after chopping vegetables for omelets. And so spring and good food combined in a moment close to sunset. If I had only one picture for yesterday, it might have been that moment.  But thinking back now, there are other snapshots I recall from yesterday, too: A student's tears. A colleague's laughing comment as we passed in the hall. A new book that came in the mail. A cookie drop-off that turned into watching the neighbor being put into a car and taken to the hospital. The smokey smell from another neighbor burning a tree stump (inside glowing red in the dark of the night). My husband teasing me about learning something new on my phone. 

So today is a reminder. There are those moments in my life when I stop, right then, and say, "Make this a mental picture that you won't forget." But everyday should have moments like that. Moments that I remember, not because they are big or momentous or worthy of anyone's attention beyond my own. But moments that mean I was present in my life, I was participating and not just going through the motions, even of the moments when I couldn't do anything about the event except experience it and add it to what makes me me.