A Perfect Day

Milo the cat supervised my work in the blackberries. He’s standing in front of the vine pile.  Everyday is a perfect day for Milo, he says. 

What is a perfect day?

Is there such a thing?

Today, I played in the blackberry bushes for a “Blackberry Project” video. (I talk more about the Blackberry Project here, if you are interested in learning  more https://wp.me/p7fM0r-jH. ) I set my timer for 20 minutes and shot some footage of a massive thicket that was growing up between two ugly trees. When I watch the video, I think that it’s not “very good.” But who am I to say? Of course, there are some obvious standards of “good” for video. I most likely didn’t excel at any of those. But my job right now is to keep showing up. To leave a little bit of space for my sweet self where I can breathe without judgment, and stop worrying for thirty seconds about quality and simply be faithful to the process. I’m committed to tackling the blackberries, one invasive vine at a time, and I want to share the journey with you. There’s no way to do that without sometimes including things that are less than amazing, not perfect or polished, but just the best that I can do with the time that I have been given.

Because a session in the blackberries makes me happy. It is a crazy thing, but it makes me strangely exuberant to chop a twenty foot invasive vine off at the roots and to pull it up to the road, and to put it in a pile with the other vines, and to see that suddenly there is space where there wasn’t space before.

Blackberry pulling is exhausting, but it is also supremely satisfying.

Time spent in the berries could be part of a perfect day. If there is such a thing.

Today, I drove my son to his school, because even though they just sent all the students back home for distance learning because of rising COVID numbers in the community, he had a woodshop project to finish, and his teacher let him come in to complete it.  While he was working on his breadboard, I met a friend at the reservoir and we went for a walk. Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain. Today, it was sunny and clear. It might be one of our last warm fall days. Time with a friend, walking by the water, could also be part of a perfect day. If there is such a thing.

Yesterday, I made Ethiopian style lentils with ginger, garlic, cardamom, four pureed red onions, and Berbere spice, which is an Ethiopian specialty. I tell you friends, those lentils were beyond spicy. I rarely say this, but they were, maybe, just a little too spicy for me? So today, I brought the lentils out again and tried to tame them, just a bit. I added a can of diced tomatoes and some Greek yogurt.  Success!  Even my slightly picky son said they were good, “kind of like a hummus-curry dip.” Making lentils and then re-making them so that we can actually eat them? That could be part of a perfect day. If there is such a thing.

The dog was shaking his head this morning in that way he does when he’s got something deep in his ear. Usually, it means he’s picked up a foxtail somewhere, and we will need to take him to the vet, and they will have to knock him out in order to remove it. This usually costs at least $200, and then there’s the guilt about his TEETH. The vet always suggests that it would be a loving, caring thing to have his teeth cleaned while he is being seen for the foxtail removal. As long as he is being sedated, why not have his teeth done? It only would add about $45,000 to the bill (I’m exaggerating, just a little).  I love my dog so much, but cleaning his teeth is really not in our budget. Honestly, the estimate for teeth cleaning is not much less than what I paid for my first car.

I don’t remember any of our pets when I was growing up getting their teeth cleaned.

But I always feel bad when I have to decline (again)  the teeth cleaning service at our lovely vet’s office.  Now it’s later in the day, and he doesn’t seem to be shaking his head as much. Does that mean he feels better and I can cancel his vet appointment? Or is it just a temporary lull while the blasted foxtail works its way deeper into his ear? Time spent making vet appointments and worrying about the cost could be part of a perfect day in some way that I don’t understand. If there is such a thing.

So that is my day, so far.  Now it is evening, just past 5 pm, and the sun is down. It is time to close the curtains and to nag my son about his homework. Homework is a pain for every member of the family. Except before I had a chance to nag him about his homework, he reminded me that he was starving and needed food ASAP. Of course, the lentils that I tamed earlier in the day are not on his list of acceptable foods at the moment, because he already had them once. Homework will wait for a few minutes, I guess. I would never say that homework is part of a perfect day. Except, what do I know? Time spent in homework could be part of a perfect day in some way that I don’t understand.  If there is such a thing.

Maybe everyday we wake up on this earth is a perfect day (in a way), no matter what happens, or doesn’t happen. If we like what we see or don’t like it. If all the things we encounter please us, or if they annoy us. We got to be here. We were breathing, our hearts were pumping, the earth moved around the sun. Maybe that is enough?  Surely, shouldn’t that be enough?