Grateful Because

Late this afternoon we went to the pool. It was Family Time when kids and teens can only come when accompanied by a grown-up.

The three of us had the pool almost to ourselves. The pool and the toys floating in it.

Among them were pieces of those water spaghetti’s. Long colored strings of foam. As they are pieces they were short colored strings of foam in this case.

After having done several things with one of them  — shooting it out of the water, hitting myself over the head, putting it under my arms –  I finally used it as a foot rest. With my feet supported like that I was able to float effortlessly in the water.

My ears were just under the waterline; exterior sounds became muted and distorted, interior sounds amplified.

I heard my own breathing the way you never do.

Clouds drifted by lazily.

The air smelled of Summer.

Thank You for the simple joy of being somewhat submerged in water.

My youngest one has a friend over for a couple of days. As they venture outside , play, explore, run, explode into pleasure, I was struck by how special the sound of children voices can be.

Clattering, sparkling, joyful, full of energy, full of life.

Be honest with you, sometimes those very voices work on my nerves the way sandpaper does on cardboard. It rips me up and destroys my patience or focus within seconds. Sometimes their joy is my noise.

But today I listened.

I heard the unbridled joy, so completely in the here and now, in the moment.

I heard how they gave everything. They talked the way we laugh when we’re tickled.

I also heard myself, a kid, not long ago. Running, digging, cycling, experiencing, being.

What a blessing to hear children’s voices, to hear the experience of Life bursting out, to hear simple joys tickle them so much.

Thank You for the children and what they show us.

The written word is amazing.

What started out as oral tradition became written. And the magic is that it worked. The written word invoked the same emotions, the same imagery, the same touch, the same reality.

Copied by hand the written word maybe did not touch more people at first but it touched farther. And then, through print, it touched thousands, millions, billions.

And me.

I grew up with books. A religious family mine, books were everywhere. The Bible, a concordance, Bible studies, Billy Graham, Corrie ten Boom, so much more.

That was the first tasting of.

The real taste came in the form of one of the books from the Bob Evers series by the Willy van der Heide, given to me by a primary school teacher as a price for good hand writing.

It went unread. Until I got ill and needed 6 months of bed rest. With day time television limited to Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, I finally read. The complete Tintin comic book serie my brother-in-law owned that is. And after that the complete Asterix comic book serie. Only when those two were exhausted and I was left with nothing I turned to the Bob Evers book.

And then the second volume.. and the third.. and…

And it never stopped.

Some of my fondest memories are of my scouring through the public library, hunting for more books.

Some of my fondest memories are books.

I lived many more lives than I have time for thanks to books. I have experience unheard of — thanks to books. And I have unheard of experiences thanks to books.

Thank You for the written word and our wonderful ability to absorb it.

* the amazing photo work of the book cover was taken by Scot (PhotoNoob.net) who worked on the photo in PhotoShop.

I grew up a night person. As a kid I would be awake still by the time my parents went to bed.

As a teen I would see the hours tick away at night as the early morning and my summer job approached.

Family changed that first. With kids there is no sleeping late. Ever. It soon gets to the point where you get up at 8 and feel elated because you “slept out”.

These days I’m a morning person by choice. I get up early. 6AM, aiming to slowly dial it back to 5:30 even.

First thing I do is a shower. How can anyone stay asleep, feel groggy, when you’re standing under running water?

The feel is rejuvenating.  Life giving. Splendid. Rich.

Thank You for water; Thank You for morning showers that make me feel so good.

* The amazing photo of water droplets on human skin was taken by fatal Cleopatra.