I expected to find "Spring" waiting for me when we returned home from Spring Break last evening. "Spring" did not receive my memo. We returned to a cold house and no electricity. Two of our trees in the front yard were broken and on the ground covered in lots of heavy snow. I was surprised how calm I felt as I dialed the number to inquire about the power. All of our neighborhood was out and had been since 7 am. It was now approaching 5 pm. The pasta I was dreaming about preparing on the ride home from the airport quickly lost out to a trip to our neighborhood Italian restaurant. It's funny how a week of meals at fine restaurants can inspire the "inner cook" to spontaneously appear. She would have to wait another day to practice any creative meal making. Over dinner Tori and I made our evening plans. Homework (which was to be finished on the trip~NOT!) by candles and flashlights cuddled around the fireplace in my bedroom for heat. That doesn't sound so bad. This will be fun! We drove home anticipating an adventure to add to our Spring Break stories only to be disappointed as we arrived to find electricity back on and the furnace humming along as the house opened her rapidly warming arms to gather us in. We could have left the heat off and returned to our plans. We did light candles. But we let the lure of technology sweep us into our rituals and habits, losing the magic of the moment. I had hundreds of emails to begin to wade through and Tori had a favorite television show calling out to her. We let our adventure fade away, the moment gone forever.
Today we are back to our usual routines. School, errands, laundry, and driving. Last evening, we didn't think twice before resuming our "ordinary" lives once the power returned. I wished we would have. I wished we would have been aware of the momentary blessing we were being given. A moment to choose the grace of the simple pleasures instead of the habit of mindless routines. The routines would and will wait while the joy of a memory shared can never be revisited. We will have more chances to choose, I am sure of this. I hope this melancholy reverie will pop up to remind me when those moments of grace sparkle for a brief second before disappearing into the ether, never to be birthed in just the same circumstance again.
So, so beautiful!
I'm glad you're back! Hope you had a wonderful trip and that you ease back into the routine (always difficult) without too much "pain and suffering" (but hundreds of emails? egads!)
Posted by: Mayberry Magpie | March 30, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I always find it amazing the magic that happens during those times when something sets us off on a different path. I live for magic!
Oh how I do wish we were neighbors :)
Posted by: Cyndee Greene | March 30, 2009 at 12:56 PM
The day back from vacation always is such a rough one in my opinion...a downer so to speak! I hope it was a fabulous trip. I need to catch up with you and will hopefully be back on my email/blog run this week since I've fallen behind.
Posted by: Jennifer White | March 31, 2009 at 08:09 AM
I do hope you had a wonderful trip and that you are settling back into everyday life! It seems like sometimes life likes to slam us as soon as we find a quiet space in our days. When we want to linger in the serenity, the Universe often has other ideas.
Love,
Debbie
Posted by: Debbie | April 02, 2009 at 06:09 PM
Loss of power is a transitory gift that makes us aware of how ephemeral all this technology that surrounds us can be.
Beautiful art today on this post but that's pretty much a constant for you! Lucky chica! I love the negative spaces in this one, but I'm a sucker for those. This one is spring regardless of your snow!
Posted by: Shirley Ende-Saxe | April 03, 2009 at 07:42 AM