CONTINUOUS PARTIES

"Happy Birthday", oil, by Jeanne Illenye

I sometimes wonder who else, or what else, was born on my birthday. I’ve never researched it, but perhaps some celebrities were born on November 26, 1941 – some famous people who transformed the way we live, or looked into the mysteries of life, or let us in on secret truths, or just sang songs that people loved. In fact, maybe millionsof important people were born on that day, people who were special in small ways, but special nonetheless. And what about animals, like birds, or bears, or the smallest singing insects? How many of them were newly made on the same day I was made? And cells. Weren’t a countless number of cells sent into existence on November 26, 1941? And how many rainstorms and blizzards and snowflakes and breezes were brought to life on my birthday, and new ways for the sun to shine, and new kinds of sunsets? And what about birthdays on this very day? Shouldn’t we celebrate an immeasurable number of births this day, this hour, this moment? Shouldn’t we throw parties almost continuously?  

A SNOW JOB

"Snow Storm Study", oil, by Jason Tako

We haven’t had much snow this season, but I realized this morning, again, that I have been the victim of a serious “snow job” for years and years. A snow job might be described as a deceptive story that tries to hide the truth, which is the kind of fantasy story I’ve been hearing all my life regarding the supremacy of evil and the relative fragility of good. In countless ways, the world has worked hard to make evil seem like the leader and good like a pale follower, a fragile onlooker that lingers in the background, breaking through with its little light now and then, but only when evil allows it. Life, this story says, is an endless struggle between evil and good, and the conquest always, in the end, goes to evil. It’s refreshing, this morning, to remember that this story is as fantastical and false as the story of the tooth fairy. This world I’m lucky to be living in is loaded with good like sunlight is loaded with warmth. The good I feel and see and hear each day doesn’t bow for a minute to the make-believe power of evil. There’s more force in a smile of friendship than there is in the scariest disease, and these smiles are spread across the earth at all times, and they live on long after a disease has has shouted its hair-raising words and disappeared.  I’ve seen good that grows ever stronger in the presence of evil – good that says evil can have its charades and pretenses and shams, but that good will get all the trophies in the end. Just on this small street I live on there is good that’s greater and stronger than sunshine or snowstorms. It tells the true story of this life we’re all lucky to be living.  

Swimming, Dolls, and Drawing

"Spring Fling", oil, by Robin Cheers

We spent two wonderful days with the kids and grandkids – yesterday evening with Noah and Ava at Jamie’s, and today at the Worcester YMCA pool with Josh, Ilinca, and Luke.

At Jamie’s, I drew pictures with Noah at his new drawing table. He’s an up-and-coming drawer himself, but he was excited to see me draw, and he loved giving me instructions about what to draw: “Let’s draw four special rooms, Hammy, all with special things in them.” He also showed me a new iPad app that looked very much like something an engineering student would enjoy – all sorts of wheels and gears and balls moving and connecting and clicking. He tried to explain it to me, but it was as mystifying as high school algebra was all those years ago.

 Ava and Delycia and I played with some of Ava’s dolls, with me sometimes being the big old dog who comes along and needs to be fed and pampered.

Today at the pool, we had a great time splashing and laughing. I felt lucky to be there to see Josh jumping from the side with smiles, Ilinca swimming like a seal, Luke being the good and loyal dad he is, and Delycia loving the water and her family. 

DOWN TO SPEED

"Sleepy Side Road", oil, by Tom Brown

Every so often I hear someone say they’re “getting up to speed”, and it usually reminds me that I need to get down to speed. There’s so much rushing and dashing these days, so much whooshing from one must-do task to another, that slowing down has become, for me at least, a life-saving strategy. We all seem to be speeding on the interstates of our lives, all trying to take the lead and leave others behind, but I want to find the secluded side roads, reduce speed, and see what’s happening around me.  There are fine things to find in life, but I won’t find them if I’m forever trying to go faster, do more, rise higher. There’s a gift for me in every moment, but I won’t see it if I’m speeding away to the next moment. I need to do more moseying instead of always zooming and whizzing. Rather than pick up speed, I need to put it down. 

MATH AND LOVE

"Math Exam", acrylic on canvas, by
Trine Meyer Vogsland

It’s interesting to me that 2+2=4 is true no matter where I am or what is happening. In a hailstorm or in the halls at school, it’s as true as it was when dinosaurs were around. When the world seems to be breaking apart because of storms or wars, 2+2 is still 4. When sorrow seems to be crushing happiness, 2+2 is still quietly and completely 4. In sickness or health or gladness or disaster, the formula is still unswerving and steadfast. It’s a principle that has more power, in a sense, than hurricanes, more dependability than our dearest friends. When I find my life full of confusion, I can at least say, with assurance, that 2+2 is still 4.

What’s surprisingly heartening about this is that it reminds me of another dependable principle – that love can never be beaten. No matter how many misfortunes try to tear down love, it still stands solid and trustworthy, still as endless as ever. True, one person’s personal, physical love for another may lose its energy, but the ability of that person to love without limits is still there, still thriving. Try tearing real love apart with the powers of hate and you’ll see the love looking bigger and braver than ever. Try taking love’s life out of it, and the love will loom larger and more powerful than before.

It’s a principle as supreme as 2+2=4. If the world collapses in chaos, math and love will just seem sturdier than ever.

MANY THANKS

"Streetlight", oil, by Sharon Schock

This morning, before most of Mystic was awake, I gave many thanks -- to the furnace for filling the house with warmth in the windy winter darkness, to so many welcoming chairs to choose from in our home, to the carefully ticking clock, to coffee all hot and ready to help, to streetlights showing the way to the gym, to stop signs standing like leaders, to stars still shining as the morning gave its greeting.