Four-O'clocks

About a month after Gran died, I noticed the bright green leaves sprout in the depression of my lawn where I am sure the city’s sewer line has eaten away at the Yazoo clay lying beneath. Decay brings forth life every time, doesn’t it? I had just gotten off work, and it was April when the weather is either furious or loving. The days had begun to get longer because we had already sprung forward with daylight savings time and it had not yet gotten so humid that you could feel the air lay on your skin. This evening, the air was perfectly benign.

I passed by the plant when I skirted the depression so I wouldn’t break my leg again and clicked my heels on the sidewalk so that any grass or mud that they had gathered would knock off. I bent down to pet Sammy’s black coat. He was my dearest friend. He blinked his golden eyes at me and purred a meow like he was saying he was as glad to see me as I was to see him. It is nice to be greeted by someone happy to see you, even if they really just want you to feed and pet them.

Desired Things

Sometimes, we stumble upon simple and straightforward messages that we didn't know we were looking for. It's good to pay attention.  Below is a prose poem by Max Erhmann which was written in 1927.

Wild Hibiscus Flowers

www.bloomsagardenshop.com. I have been so very lucky to do what I do.  One of the benefits that no one can put a value on is the friendships that I have made through my work at Mississippi Children's Home Services. Last night, I attended a meeting in Hattiesburg, MS, in the serene Depot Coffee House and Bistro.  Our Vines of the World Chair, Adrienne, and her mother run a beautiful adjacent store, Blooms, where they do flower arrangements (incredibly artistic and beautiful!), sell Mississippi artworks, and unusual specialty items such as the Wild Hibiscus Flower in syrup.

Appreciating

In this world that spins so fast with people rushing from one appointment to another and never taking the time to reflect or think, with children who have every minute of their days filled with organized activities, with families not taking the time to sit down and eat meals together, and with friends not taking the time to stop and tell each other how much they love and need one another, I am stopping now to share what I am appreciating today.  For the last two years, I have been trying to tell at least one person a day how I appreciate them and trying to find at least one thing or action that is so beautiful that it stops me in my tracks.  What follows are just some of the things I am seeing today.

Magic in the Sky

It's that time of the year again. When the evenings begin getting warm and humid, nature pulls out her perennial summer night lights and casts them into the shadowy spots under trees and the low misty spots in fields. Her fireflies dance and whirl to what must be secret fairy songs and inspire children to laughter. When I was a child, my grandmother showed me the toad stools that popped up after a summer shower where she said the fairies had sheltered from the storm. She told me to watch in the evening so that I could catch sight of the fairies flying and playing chase with the fireflies. Every time I see a firefly now, I think of my grandmother's voice in my ear and the joy that I'd feel bubbling in my chest when I spied that first firefly of the evening.