May 5, 2020
Today’s reflection
– Dogwood winter in Iowa, it will be chilly all week. Perfect weather for the
radish cotyledons pushing up in the garden boxes. I expect peas to be right behind them. A Baltimore Oriole flew down and perched on a
chair outside my east window, morning sun. I’d been listening to him sing in
the canopy all week, so it was great to get a minute to gawk at his orange and
black elegance. Last night I glanced out of my kitchen window to see the fox
vixen steering her kits down the west ravine. These moments build vital points
of context for me, reminders that the world around us keeps doing what it
does. Maybe even with more ease since we
have withdrawn.
Lately, some local
kids have made night raids on the campus committing small but irksome acts of vandalism.
They removed the taped barriers from around the playground equipment, leaving
it strewn about, they turned on an outside water tap, and it ran all night. I’m
sure there is more evidence of tomfoolery we have yet to discover. Here is just more normal stuff happening.
What a relief! Understandably, the
groundskeepers complain, and that is warranted. But I cannot join in their kvetching
chorus because I remember feeling the need for taking chances with such a simple
act of delinquency. To be a little naughty. Something about it revived and
validated our teenage moxie after the long cooped up winter seasons.
In our campus
house, a few of our Asian students, who flex their moxie by going to high
school abroad, have learned that their parents think it would be better if they
stayed in the states over the summer break. The coronavirus has complicated
travel. The girls are keeping their chins up about this turn of events, but I
would be so disappointed. They don’t feel sorry for themselves but have a sanguine
acceptance for their parent’s decision. I am touched by it. Instead of displaying
distress or frustration, they pivoted and appeared to plunk up their sense of
adventure and surrender. Flow, no flow. They show me how that looks. I am
wondering how far back would I have to step from the scene to give it context that could affirm such a hard decision, even in such anxious times?
Is my expectation of being able to go home at the end of the semester an
arrogant act? An entitled assumption? How
many generations did it take to cultivate this attitude?
Taking in what the
girls are coming to terms with, reminds me to be grateful for every simple
thing that goes well. Gratitude for
reliable transportation on roads that are well maintained and typically
safe. For ample resources to make a thousand-mile
trip home. For the free time to visit family and good, good friends. For ample health and sound mind to navigate
the journey. I am grateful.
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