I find myself outside more often in the late summer evenings. Something inexplicably draws me outdoors when the sun goes down. It feels like an old friend showing me something new. Maybe it’s because I can still stand outside without 17 layers under my parka. Maybe it’s due to the knowledge of the summer’s pending battle loss to autumn. Nevertheless, there I am sitting outside on my back deck or standing still on my front step. It’s peaceful and intimate.
Thick in my thoughts during these moments is the expression about “enjoying the simple things in life”. Not doing anything but listening to the muffled night sounds supports this concept of getting back to basics.
Are these joys really the simple things though? They create experiences that are very complex and stir intense contentment.
Take the idea of holding the door for someone; certainly a simple and rewarding act. More than that, it creates in both parties, feelings of gratitude and familiarity. It’s only a moment, but the effect can linger in your thoughts, can alter your mood and can even pause stress. Additionally, think about what circumstances needed to align for that specific event to occur.
What about those times we run into an old friend unexpectedly. We take time to catch up, to live momentarily in the nostalgia, to extend on the connection and maybe even to make plans for the future.
Returning to my evening of solitude in my backyard, there are moments when I can hear my son inside the house, talking to his friends. The spontaneous feelings of love and gratitude for these things in my life come to the surface in a powerful way. I am able to take stock of all of my blessings, family, home, career, etc.. Add to the experience, the night skies twinkling with stars that are light years away. They cross time and space to appear at that moment. Simultaneously, I realize how comfortable the weather is and how quiet the breeze blows. All of these conspire and inspire in innumerable ways. They create rich and intricate connections that can touch all of us deeply. Maybe that’s why we acknowledge them repeatedly and try to articulate them in a basic expression.
It turns out these simple things in life that we strive to hang onto are rather complex.
LONELY FOR THE STARS
I was concerned those celestial lights had other plans. Standing in my back yard that night, a vigil of my own design. I blinked several times to confirm that my eyes were indeed open. Even the distant streetlight seemed reluctant, casting only blended shadows. The darkness was not the company I had been seeking.
I waited patiently, gently for the smallest reward. Almost inperceptively it came, a twinkling connection from a giant light years away, so far away. My only company tonight, a vision more clear in my peripheral.
My hope gathered momentum as more constellations joined in. I remained planted, afraid to move. Worried my acknowledgement might frighten them to burn out and to leave me stranded under the night blanket. They seemed unchallenged by the distance, by my presence.
Their numbers steadily increased and I felt my tension dissipate under their care.
No longer lonely for the stars.
B. Toner
Sept, 2018