Just a thought..

As I sit here listening to my most recent iTunes purchases (Santigold and Michael Franti) and watching the Yankees play, it might seem as though my senses are too stimulated to string together a thought. And while it is true that my focus may be slightly deterred every few seconds, I haven't posted in a while and I had an opportunity for some in/tro/spec/tion today that I feel is worthy of reflection.

I love getting caught in the rain. It's the most seredipitous, therapeutic experience if it catches you at the right time. After parking my car in the Washington Street lot this afternoon, I walked two blocks to the tea lounge amidst big rain drops and some thunder, and loved every second. When you're by yourself, holding up traffic, taking steps in deep puddles, it's hard not to enjoy it. Couples seeking foggy, intimate shelter in the front seat, businessmen under neat umbrellas, and the wayfaring public hiding under awnings. I waited in the lobby for my friends, and took it all in, damp and content.

Over lemongrass tea and banana cookies, I then proceeded to pick up bits and pieces of my friends' lives, where we left them last August. Never once did the gap change us, in the end. We've all had our doubts, and we've all risen above. I think the past year has helped us grow up, each in our own ways. But being with them altered my mood quite significantly; from what had been a sour morning, to a delightful barefoot afternoon. Our red cushions and porcelain tea pots as a unifying paradox of consistency despite change.

What I'm trying to say, more or less, is that it doesn't seem to take much for me these days. Not too much to provoke a thought or sheer happiness, and, while my entries in the Gratitude Journal prove this point more and more with each entry, I usually don't give it a second thought. I relish in the fact that I can revel in something so simple and it can change my outlook, no matter how temporary.

Listening to The Outfield with the windows down, being loved so passionately that my eyes tear, mash-ups, ridiculous games on the porch, and playing in the waterfalls.