Journal: 9/11/05

Yesterday morning I worked at school for a few hours, as I usually do on Saturdays – just settling things in place for the coming week and tidying up from last week. It was a perfectly beautiful morning outside – clear sky and soft sunlight over all things – and there was the same kind of beauty in my classroom. I love my room for that reason: it’s a comfortable, lovely, and peaceful place to be. In the afternoon, I rode my bike on the hills near my house again, and this time, for some reason, I paid special attention to the shadows. Of course, they were everywhere – great hulking shadows of trees across the road, shadows of passing cars, and thin lines of shadows of telephone poles and wires. I can’t remember ever paying attention to shadows, but I’m glad I did. I enjoyed riding in and out of them as I climbed the hills and sailed down them again. There was a softness to the shadows, and they seemed to make the afternoon softer as I rode. I watched my beloved Notre Dame and the Red Sox win crucial victories today. What more could I ask of a Saturday in September than lovely weather, a morning in my pleasant classroom, an hour on the shadowy hills on my bicycle, and decisive victories by my two heroic teams?