Yesterday I was standing on my back patio in bare feet and I could tell then that California’s winter would pass. Not now but soon enough. I could take off my shoes, temperatures had risen just past 65, I am not completely nuts. We always get a kind of pre-spring in January, maybe even a really warm week in February, before settling into our unsettled March and April. Then comes summer, mid-May, and roses.
One of my favorite things about retirement has been the time to notice time passing. I can see my daphne opening day to day, the buds forming on the alder, the cotoneaster berries ripening, over-ripen, fall. I have time, if I can find the inner quiet which is by no means easy, to feel the weight of small time.
The other day I was out in the garden chopping branches off a failing mock orange when the oddest thing happened. Rain had been predicted but had not yet arrived. I began to hear pattering. Rain was falling nearby, but not on me, maybe not even in my yard. For a minute I just listened, then I felt one, two, four drops. Then the pattering stopped. I looked up and saw that the sky was dark gray to my right but light above and I realized that I must have been standing right at the edge of rain as it went by. That can only happen if you are outside with nowhere to go. Had I been moving I’d have lost the moment.
I’d seen rain start before, of course, sitting on my sofa and looking out the window, or felt it as I was walking down the street. But never heard it, not like that, standing under an open sky. The time to fully appreciate something before it is upon us.
One other thing to notice. Today a new Lunar New Year begins. I am taking it as a signal that the time between years and decades in fact, is complete. Here’s a greeting to you, in Mandarin with much affection.
Xi Nian Kuai Le!
Have a wonderful weekend.
24 Responses
This was such a lovely thing to read this morning, Lisa. (We’ve been experiencing that pre-spring too…)
Xi Nian Kuai Le to you too!
@Susan B, Thank you:). Happy pre-spring to you as well. xox
Thank you for sharing that moment with us. How wonderful to be fully present, to experience such a moment.
@Marcia, You are very welcome. I admit, the moment made me giddy.
I’m hoping my Chinese co-worker will bring in some goodies from her celebration next week. The sweet things they make with bean paste are my favorite.
@RoseAG, I hope come sweet come your way!
What a privileged moment, to notice Earth doing her astounding thing, independent of our insignificant little selves. To be in that. Thank you, Lisa.
@Linda, You’re welcome! It was a privilege, I felt like I was getting to peek behind a magic curtain.
Thank-you for reminding me of of how time unfolds. Your writing is beautiful Lisa.
Luci
@luci, Thank you very much.
How wonderful to be present in the moment. Grateful for what the universe offers us.
Xi Nian Kuai Le to you!
@Jane, Gratitude, when it comes unbidden, is extraordinary.
Beautiful…
@KSL, Thank you:)
What a beautiful post. Love your description of being still enough to notice you were at the edge of the rainway.
Happy Lunar New Year. I too will take the Lunar New Year as a time of completion and opportunity for renewal.
@Katherine C. James, Thank you. May we all renew. xox.
Exquisitely written. I was right there with you :)
I’m in the CA desert and recently retired. I have been noticing the beautiful little details all around me lately. I guess these are gifts of retirement if we choose to take a moment to notice. Thanks for sharing your lovely observations.
@Audre, Thank you, it is lovely to have your company.
Happy New Year! Lovely description and sweet unfolding of what that moment represented — so miuch depends on context, though, and I had to stretch my imagination considerably to visualize the beginning of rain. Here in the Rain City of Vancouver, it is always already rain, or so it seems in January. . . The droughts of August seem impossible now, as does being able to distinguish a point where the raindrops begin or end. . . .
Happy New Year to you Lisa! Sadly, our daughter in law tells us that all the streets and public places in her hometown (near Shanghai) are empty due to the deadly virus which is sweeping across China. We are hopeful that the virus will not become a pandemic.
Lisa..I love your writing…have never sent a note until now. This post was stunningly beautiful. Here in Canada at our lake, we too are retired and have time…I took that time to look at the snow falling. It changes all the time. A beautiful scene today.
i too have been trying to slow down and simply take notice. a way of disconnecting and yet connecting. :)
When working full time the treadmill keeps us very preoccupied and somewhat all consumed. The demands of high tech…I remember them well and have no regret leaving it all behind. Noticing our environment and all that nature has to offer is filled with wonder lust.
What a beautiful evocation of a state – “the edge of rain” – that may be ordinary in nature but becomes special, even magical, because one takes the time to notice and experience it.
Your words made me remember such instants in my own life – such as watching a gorgeous butterfly emerge from its chrysalis and spend the next ten minutes “finding its sea legs” before spreading its wings and flying away, or the way the vault of heaven looks during a complete lunar eclipse at 3 AM – all those stars!
And now I – we – have yours to remember, too…
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