A simple Sunday. Simple food. Simple pleasures. And, my Lord, it’s a perfect day outside …
Sometimes you just know you’re going to have a good day …
Things are rarely black and white, but they do get clearer over time.
Days like today inspire feelings of goodwill and kindness, It’s such a beautiful day outside. Mid-60s, sunny, still, and chore-free. It’s a day that reassures me that Spring can’t be far off.
If it weren’t so cold, I’d walk along the River to see what kind of picture this mid-January moon could paint for me after this afternoon’s spectacular Hill Country sunset.
I still get that same feeling when a new semester starts. I’d be lost if I weren’t on a college campus — big or small — around mid-January. Stately buildings framed by the cold, gray sky. Students scurrying. And me behind that old wobbly podium looking out on fresh, eager faces who are looking from a sign from me that, somehow, this class won’t be that bad.
El Salvador, South Korea, Honduras, Austin, El Paso, Bayshore (where we used to catch the ferry to Fire Island), Laredo, Guatemala, Poteet, Harlingen, Syracuse, Mecca, and all over San Antonio — we’ve gathered in Room 102 to learn about Marketing, Business, and Life.
How did we all end up here … in the same room at the same time?
I love it. I love it all. I love them all.
At 2:22 this morning, a pleasant dream was interrupted by the sound of sleet pelting my bedroom window. Small doses of cold can sound menacing in the dark hours of the early morning.
Jodie Foster gave an amazing speech last. Not the “coming out” part. She didn’t come out last night … she’s been publicly referencing her former life-partner for years. Most members of the media focused on the “coming-out” slant, on the privacy thesis. In my view, that’s not what made the speech remarkable. That’s not what brought Jodie — who was clearly nervous and frightened — to tears.
It was the other parts. Here are some excerpts from her speech at the Golden Globes last night:
“There are a few secrets to keeping your psyche intact over such a long career. The first, love people and stay beside them.”
“Our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this, this song is for you.”
“Mom, I know you’re inside those blue eyes somewhere and that there are so many things that you won’t understand tonight. But this is the only important one to take in: I love you, I love you, I love you. And I hope that if I say this three times, it will magically and perfectly enter into your soul, fill you with grace and the joy of knowing that you did good in this life. You’re a great mom. Please take that with you when you’re finally OK to go.
“Change, you gotta love it. I will continue to tell stories, to move people by being moved, the greatest job in the world. It’s just that from now on, I may be holding a different talking stick. And maybe it won’t be as sparkly, maybe it won’t open on 3,000 screens, maybe it will be so quiet and delicate that only dogs can hear it whistle.”
“But it will be my writing on the wall. Jodie Foster was here, I still am, and I want to be seen, to be understood deeply and to be not so very lonely.”
These are words of beauty, relevance, and power. They are words of love, tribute, and honor. The speech wasn’t about coming out — it was about being okay with what is within.
Brisk sunny day in the Hill Country. Quiet times. The space between the branches is where birds sit; the silence between words is where the emotion lives.
There’s a front coming through right now. The wind is whipping the warm air around, corralling it and forcing it South. It’s windy outside, very windy. I hope the warm air ends up in a place where it can be appreciated.
Tomorrow should be a bright, cool Sunday … perfectly suited for quiet time and reflection, for good food and laughter.
Despite my many shortcomings and my wide array of faults, sometimes … sometimes … I get to have a perfect day.
Sappho Rising 