April 2023 comes to a close

Endless rows of tulips

This has been a very unusual spring in many parts of the country, perhaps even in the world. I suspect that we will not end up having experienced the coldest April ever, since the last week of the month will bring us normal, or close to normal, temperatures. This picture was taken last Thursday and the tulips are just now mostly up and showing their colors, late in the month for sure. It was perhaps one of the coldest visits I've ever made to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It was mostly the wind, and the fact that we never saw the sun while we endured a twenty-mile-an-hour north wind. But it was worth it; we really enjoyed seeing all the tulips, especially the gorgeous purple ones like these.

I really don't mind cool weather and prefer it to hot days. But there is definitely a limit; we have not seen many days so far this year when we even reached 50°F (10°C). We have been hoping for more sunny days and warmer weather, and I hope I will not be looking back at these days and missing them. We never have many days around here when it gets really hot, even in August. But the way the weather has been behaving, who knows what the summer will bring us? I am just glad that we are not experiencing terrible windstorms or a massive deluge of rain. Just our usual stuff.

I have had a hard time trying to decide what I want to focus on in this post. Although it's difficult, I am determined to stay away from politics and the awful epidemic of gun shootings around the country. But it seems to be everywhere this past week: so many people accidentally shot (or killed) for making an innocent mistake, such as knocking on the wrong door, or someone shooting into a car without knowing who or what might be in it. This happens every day, but lately it's accelerated, or at least it seems that way to me.

What that does is make me fearful every time I leave my house to walk to the bus, head into the coffee shop, or the Senior Center. Looking around to see if there is anyone walking around looking like they're spoiling for a fight and might have a gun  or a knife. This is new for me. In my neighborhood and downtown on the main street, there are plenty of possible assassins on every corner. It doesn't help that there are so many homeless people trying to find shelter on a street corner with a blanket and little else. It makes me jumpy and I feel scared. 

The world is so different today that it was before the pandemic. Only a few short years ago I didn't see so much suffering. Is this because so many people have lost their homes and now have lost all hope? I don't know what else might have caused so much change in such a short period of time. Or is it just that I notice now what has been there all along, gaining momentum but nothing is actually new or different?

Perception is everything. It makes me realize that there is plenty around me every day that I miss because I'm not paying attention. And I'm not alone: on the bus there might be two dozen riders but everybody is looking down at the phones. I'll bet many of the people I see every day don't actually see other people as fellow humans, or even have awareness of anything other than their own internal dialogs. I wonder sometimes what they are looking at or reading, or listening to. Whatever it is, they are not present. Sometimes I am the ONLY person not looking at my phone.

Well, that's enough time thinking about what's wrong, but what about what's right with it all? If perception is everything, then I choose to perceive the beauty and delightful parts of life. Why not? I've changed my perception easily in the past, so I can do it here, now, today as well. Instead of looking for the worst, I can look for the happiness that also exists around me. Children on the school playground across the street, shouting and screaming with exuberance, running for no reason other than they can. Dogs out walking their humans in the early morning, both groups caring nothing about the light rain falling around them. Flowers everywhere, birds singing in the trees, all this puts a lilt into my own step as I walk through my neighborhood. Imagining happy families behind the doors of their homes, everyone with a full tummy and warm clothes. 

Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance. —Epicurus

 And while all this joy is happening around me, I am also thrilled to have finally become the proud owner of hearing aids. I look forward to putting them on again each morning, which I do while waiting for the water to boil for tea, knowing that I will hear the kettle as it begins its journey towards a whistle. I love my bionic ears! And the cacophony of birdsong I hear every morning is simply enough to bring me great joy. I know the song of perhaps a dozen different birds, but every once in awhile I hear a new one and wonder what it might be. What magnificent beings that can sing like that!

Ah, yes. What a difference perception can make. I now no longer feel that sense of fear, but instead look forward to my friend John coming to transport me to breakfast in a short while. He was down with a cold for four or five days, but he's back now. I missed him but managed quite well without his presence. I did feel a little lonely in the coffee shop, but he's back now and everything feels right again. I do hope you, my dear virtual family, will have a wonderful week ahead, and that you will also find out how to look on the bright side of life. We do have a choice here. Until we meet again next week, I wish you all good things, and that you will have abundant joy every moment of every day. Be well.