ditch-digging advice

….and on the walk I got to thinking of the two ditch-digger cats who’d roll into the 5:30 gathering of folks hoping to get their lives a bit more together and the one guy every single time would say, “This is the day the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice in it.” And big old open-minded me – um, way way younger then – would emotionally/spiritually/foolishly cringe at the word “hath” and so pay as little attention as possible to some kind of religious doctrine-y thing (I felt), and so much for open mindedness. There’s a happy ending here, though, from way back when as this was on the east coast of Florida in 1987 and it’s me then being able to follow at least some advice, right here it being “keep coming”, and this is I’d say a story of the goldenness of repetition, hearing something again and again and again and waiting, likely subconsciously, for the “aha” moment to arrive, cause they do, that’s my experience, and maybe it happened one fine day or possibly it leaked in over a few weeks but one of those 5:30 afternoons in a folding-chair seat my editing mind left the troubling word mentioned above and lingered, instead, on the rejoicing in the day part of it.

See, told you it had a happy ending, as since then I have had that wisdom that I can rejoice in a day I am given, haven’t always remembered, but more than not as time has passed, and I don’t need to tell you (again) how blessed I am to still just be here – I’m still here!!! – I got to wake up again today and this is the day the Universe has sent me and very early on, my 6:15 heading-out walk, I happened to look up and see the moon hanging in the mostly clear sky and I did the walk I do every morning here in Encinitas and thought about those two guys and the kindest advice of all to rejoice in the blessing of a newly arrived day, and I actually twirled in celebration, a complete 360, crossing the then-empty boulevard and continued on my walk and saw some cool stuff and waved at the same people I see early every morning, a couple of Mexicans and a crazy and wildly friendly walking lady dressed in flowing black, and here I am, my life so different and able to feel my feelings more keenly, and aware that I get nudged and sometimes shoved toward the next spot of right where I’m supposed to be, and for me this morning that was out early looking at the moon and thinking of something I heard long ago.

And these days it’s my welcome companion, always with me even when I forget to look, and mostly I don’t forget to look, and I sat down here at the keyboard early because this is another work with the San Marcos kids day and I have to call the County at 9 about senior benefit business and my great pal and life partner Keith, now in Greenwich Village, sent me a bag of acrylic paints and lovingly-used brushes which arrived in the mail yesterday – abundance – and it felt exactly right being with the kids yesterday and then back with mostly green lights (so whimsical) and over to the ocean and, yeah, taking a bench and aware of this is me here now, and then a brief walk and the rest of the night was interesting and I spontaneously bought something on-line which I’ll talk about, I bet, sometime soon, and suit up and show up, they said, and keep on keeping on, kid, life advised me in the sixties, and here in Southern California in 2021 I’m doing the best I can and sometimes I forget and become a whiner and it’s stupid and I’m trying for more awareness and for sure I’m mostly remembering to “rejoice in it”, and that’s about it.