I Can Choose The Beauty

I woke this morning, the Sun peaking around the corners of my blinds.  The same parrots that have greeted me since my youth laughed outside my window.  My dogs, each vying for position, began jumping up on the bed as if there was a race to see who could be pet first or receive a greater share of my love.  I made my coffee looking out at the San Gabriels as I have done thousands of times before.  Last week’s heat wave, broken for now, gave way to a gorgeous blue sky with just a few puffy white clouds to provide contrast.  I could feel life force soaring within me.

Driving in to work seemed a shame on a day this beautiful but, I have bills to attend to and clients, that I care about, who will need me today.  Technology conspiring against me; I discover my tools are not working as they should.  It doesn't even faze me inside.  I grumble, just loud enough so that my boss will know how “disappointed” I am, not being able to do the work I had scheduled.  Secretly coveting this opportunity to read a few pages of book ten in the “Wheel of Time” series, enjoy my iced tea, and do a little writing.

Billie Holliday serenades my soul with haunting ‘melodies, of days gone by’.  A text or two from my best friend and a chance to breathe a little for a change; who says Mondays have to be all gloom and doom?  I answer a few e-mails, make a few calls and wonder why they call this work.

Next week I travel to Texas to do an installation and training.  I hope to get a chance to meet up with some friends while I am there.  Travel is my favorite part of the job.  I go, I see, I meet, I share, I learn, I come home, I love it.

This isn’t a diary entry.  This isn’t poetry nor a short story.  This is a snapshot of a day that I could have complained about.  It is a declaration of satisfaction that I chose otherwise.  It is a reminder for myself if the occasion arises later for me to forget these simple lessons: 1) enjoy the sunrise 2) love is there 3) smile when things go wrong 4) there is much to look forward to.

I can choose the beauty of contentment.

Roger H. P. Clark

The Necromata