A Good Day
Some days force you to confront the reality of the relative spiritual poverty of our modern existence. Today is such a day.
Here in the Valley of the Sun, we’ve received no measurable precipitation for over 113 days! The days have been gritty, with foul-smelling air, and Shakespeare’s eye of heaven hammering down without mercy.
But today is different. In some strange way, the normal brown haze has combined with uncharacteristic cloudiness and changed the sun’s harsh glare into a diffuse yellowish softness. The air also feels soft and the temperature is perfect and balmy. I decided to go home for a favorite Japanese lunch (cheap inari w/ginger, kelp onigiri, and a big green daifuku, all washed down with a bottle of cold green tea) and I swear the air outside my house smelled faintly of licorice!
In short, it feels like that magical kind of day you remember in abundance when you were a kid. A day where the rules have been suspended, all bets are off, and absolutely anything is possible. The kind of day that reminds you that the childlike feeling of a pure simple joy at being alive is really just a forgotten state of mind which modern life, with all its myriad demands, can make almost impossible to sense.
Today I don’t want to put up with the tedium and drudgery of the office. I want to take off my shirt and go exploring, bare-chested, and play childhood games. The seductive possibility of reconnecting with a life of enchantment seems almost within my grasp, but now I'm late for my 2:00 o’clock meeting… How, I wonder, will I feel at 3:00?
Here in the Valley of the Sun, we’ve received no measurable precipitation for over 113 days! The days have been gritty, with foul-smelling air, and Shakespeare’s eye of heaven hammering down without mercy.
But today is different. In some strange way, the normal brown haze has combined with uncharacteristic cloudiness and changed the sun’s harsh glare into a diffuse yellowish softness. The air also feels soft and the temperature is perfect and balmy. I decided to go home for a favorite Japanese lunch (cheap inari w/ginger, kelp onigiri, and a big green daifuku, all washed down with a bottle of cold green tea) and I swear the air outside my house smelled faintly of licorice!
In short, it feels like that magical kind of day you remember in abundance when you were a kid. A day where the rules have been suspended, all bets are off, and absolutely anything is possible. The kind of day that reminds you that the childlike feeling of a pure simple joy at being alive is really just a forgotten state of mind which modern life, with all its myriad demands, can make almost impossible to sense.
Today I don’t want to put up with the tedium and drudgery of the office. I want to take off my shirt and go exploring, bare-chested, and play childhood games. The seductive possibility of reconnecting with a life of enchantment seems almost within my grasp, but now I'm late for my 2:00 o’clock meeting… How, I wonder, will I feel at 3:00?
posted by Leroy Loutre at 1:00 PM
2 Comments:
Best entry yet. You have captured the essence of the day and your relationship with it. Really lovely.
Dear Otter King, I have skimmed through some of the postings and have enjoyed them. This one, I really appreciate because it captures the unfinished time. You know that otter helped the woman who fell from the sky to land on earth.
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