Grateful--no foolin’!

The flower garden behind the house as it looked this evening.  Everything is nearly a month early, and the implications of that worry me, but I relish the beauty, too.

This evening, I returned home after grading papers on the patio of a café in downtown Champaign.  We had record breaking warm temperatures (which worry me), so it was lovely outside, with birds hopping around me and the sun shining on my back.  Somehow, spending all Sunday afternoon on grading wasn’t so bad.  And my students were doing better on their papers; it’s reassuring to know their writing skills are improving.  Their comments on their classmates’ rough drafts were often helpful and kind, never mean-spirited or even indifferent.  They make me hopeful. 

As I left the café and walked to my car, I passed three striking sculptures along the street.  A few minutes later, stopped at a red light near a huge bed of daffodils and red tulips at the edge of Westside Park, I felt a delicious sense of wellbeing, a result of working hard and of soaking in the sunshine.  

As I drove home, I passed two young women walking; earlier they had been working at the table next to mine.  They were smiling and talking, and one had her arm around the other.  They reminded me of the couple my partner and I had seen at Meadowbrook Park yesterday, two young men, walking hand in hand around the prairie.  How much things have changed in two decades, and how grateful I am, I thought to myself. 

I felt grateful this morning, too, for one of my safe spaces, the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church I attend.  I wore a new t-shirt today, one that reads, “Amasong: Champaign-Urbana’s Premier Lesbian Feminist Chorus” across the front.  As I drove to church, I thought how fortunate I was that I didn’t have to think about walking into the service in that shirt.  There was no contradiction between the words on my t-shirt and my silver UU chalice pendant, a birthday present from my partner, Marilyn.  At church, she and I sang the hymns as we always do, arm-in-arm, sharing a single hymnal. 

This afternoon, driving home, I passed Jarling’s, our favorite custard shop, and grinned at the familiar lines that extended out the door.  Driving past Hessel Park, I noticed adults walking on the winding path and could hear children playing.

Perhaps it was the golden late afternoon light that was shining on everything, or knowing that Marilyn had brought home pansies for me to pot for our front stoop, but I felt a glow of gratitude.  I know the world is hard and can be mean, but there are places and moments of beauty and joy.  Today, I felt in the presence of beauty and joy, and for that I am grateful.