The Grateful Living

We've been blessed with gorgeous weather lately -- and we know that the Summer Miami heat and humidity will be here soon enough. But not yet...

As a result, I've been spending a lot of time outside. Yesterday I took TWO walks through my 'hood, marveling at the tropical foliage in all its glory. The last of the tab blooms were there, along with the impossibly bright bougeanvillea flowers -- purple, red, white.  It was a quiet Saturday and I saw no other humans -- only a very large peacock who was not at all afraid of my approach -- I could have easily grabbed him, given him to a landscape guy, and they'd have had a nice meal of pavo royal (royal turkey, as they call them).

When I came home, Wifey joined me at the pond, asking all kinds of questions about the fish and turtles. I made believe I knew the answers -- which koi fish came from where, how long certain turtles have lived in the pond.

The truth is, some of the turtles may well have been here the entire time we've lived here -- they come and go as they please, making the pond their base. Our old Basset Hound, Molly, used to find errant turtles in the back yard and howl at them. I'd pick them up and plop them back into the water.

We sat there for a long time -- Wifey picking weeds from the rocks, and me watching the fish swim around. I told Wifey I had seen a pretty large snake in the area where she tends to sit at night. She said that would scare the hell out of her -- but they typically avoid people.

This am, I brewed my second cup of coffee, and sat on the front porch while the dogs explored the yard. The sun was warm and soft on my skin.

I recalled my dear Mom. When I would come to Miami Jewish for a visit, as soon as I wheeled her outside, she would look at the sun, and say "Thank you, Mother Nature. The sun feels so wonderful on my skin!"  I asked her when she had abandoned her Judaism for secular humanism -- thanking the Earth Mother instead of the Big Man. She never seemed to understand.

I'd wheel her over to a gazebo, which was located under ancient oak and ficus trees. There was an ice cream vending machine there, and I would buy her a chipwich. She would eat it with such enjoyment -- saying it was the most delicious ice cream she had ever had.

Here she was, in a nursing home, wheelchair bound, and still grateful for each moment.

I'm blessed to have inherited her attitude.  And you have to be a true Eeyore to feel differently these days.

I thought I'd have another day of chilling -- Norman and Deb are due here at 6 to pregame for dinner. I had to explain to Wifey what pregame meant -- she thought we had decided to go see the Heat instead of dinner.

But Mike called -- the Canes are playing the third game against FSU at 1 -- would I meet him at Mark Light? I would -- haven't been to a Canes game yet this year, and they're playing great.

So more outside enjoyment. Arthur Bach was asked in the movie what it was like to be amazingly rich. His answer is the same I would give about enjoying these days: it doesn't suck.