10 minute blog:

(I know they say, Only speak if you can improve on the silence, but I felt I wanted to give you something this morning. Time is short due to doing my due diligence. And making up tongue twisters, apparently.)

Yesterday evening, I went to pluck one of the remaining lemons from the tree in the backyard of our building. In it, I found a robin’s nest with three sightless, flat and feathered chicks in it. Maws up and open.

I’ve been watching robins on the roof next door to me with worms in their mouths for a few days now, as I sit here at this kitchen table, writing, typing, breathing. But I never imagined there was life happening right there! The ingenuity of the nest-making was astounding, leaves harvested long ago, now time-reduced to a lattice outline.

It’s the noticing. The small moments when the chocolate vegan mousse cake you doubted, actually tastes like gilded decadence. When you decide to send a “hugs” text to your immediate family, just because it felt like a good idea this morning. When you go back through old pocket calendars, and read all the quotes and notes you’ve collected, including this rancorous gem from a rancorous man: “I’ve gotten to the point where patience is a waste of time.” – or this one, “I have a hard time taking my sanity temperature.”

For reasons hilarious and unknown to me, I seem to find myself in my second band with folks who are at least 10 years older than me. I love this. There’s little of the peacock chest puffing, and more of the genuine delight in participating in something fun, something that maybe we all wish we did when we were in high school, but didn’t. At least, I feel that way. And grateful that I get to do it now, when I’m less likely to vomit vodka tonics on myself.

Instead, I get to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon holding a bass in a basement with friends, and come home and feel inspired to take out my own guitar, and find out what I have to say anyway.