A Change of Plans...

Dear Maria,

Good morning! A change of plans, and so I am at my desk, watching Chipping sparrows swarm the feeder. They started showing up for the first time this week, and from around half a dozen Monday, they now come at least a dozen strong in the morning just before the sun is high enough to light up the feeder.

The retreat from Plan A? Breakfast with a former student was cancelled for the second morning in a row because of a sick child—hers, not mine. Of course. You should be laughing at this point.

Just after the message arrived asking for a rescheduling of breakfast, I said to Max that “I didn’t know this was how the morning was going to go.” Yes, out loud. Of course. All the research shows that the more words heard, the better for brain development. All the cool parents are yapping now. Hmmm, I wonder about that. Think about the phone conversations that are not taking place within earshot of little ones.

That not-knowing observation is laughable, too. Sometimes I think about the seconds before I met someone that would have a great impact on my life. Someone not scheduled into my day. Just seconds, and then life never the same again.

Yes, I know—illnesses, job offers, pregnancies, accidents. Got it. But maybe being a little more conscious of the flashpoints makes that living in the moment notion resonate a little deeper with me.

True enough, this colliding of a sorts means I have been a sudden turning for others. And not always in a good way, but that thought is going to take me into therapy-land, and who needs that?

Yes, the sun is shining. Yes, the days of late are warmer. Easy enough to tell. Even one of the Knockouts out back is showing new growth and has a bud. I can’t believe the plant has enough energy to create a bloom, but haven’t I—haven’t we all—been surprised before.

Maybe that’s the true surprise of love. Not that it is given or received, but that someone or something comes along to be loved.

But hold that thought. Max is nosing my arm, circling over to the door, and back again. I am, if nothing else, trainable. Chipping sparrows, sick kids, unexpected buds—what next?

Oh, I told a friend via messaging this morning that I haven’t felt much like writing of late. That’s worth a smile. As for us, you—thanks for being another one of the better surprises in my life.

Always, yours, srk