Today's mission was to do something that made me peaceful/happy. I wasn't able to fall asleep until 8am, so I didn't wake up until 2pm. I got up, showered, indulged my girly side and put on a dress, some makeup and a pretty necklace. I packed a bottle of water, made a sandwich, put my headphones in, then walked out the door. Chris is in Louisville so I don't have a car, but the tree park is only a few blocks from our apartment so that's where I went.
For being so close to home, it's a shame that I don't go there more often. It was hot out, but the trees provided enough shade that it averaged out to the perfect summer day. I pulled out my phone and just started taking pictures of the pretty things I saw and just absorbed all of the green around me.
It was wonderful.
When I sat down to eat my sandwich, another guy walking around started making his way towards me. I'm not much for strangers approaching me, I have trouble enough when people come up to order their drinks from me at work, but today was my day to open up to the world so I smiled and said hello when he waved at me.
He turned out to be one of the sweetest old men I've met. We talked about how he lied about his age so that he could get a job when he was in high school to help out his family. Once he had the job, which of course was very low level so it didn't pay much, he found out who the manager was and just walked right up to him, introduced himself and told him that he could do the job of the men he'd seen that were paid more than him. He got it, of course, and worked there for 51 years before retiring. Absolutely lovely. We talked about how he had two grandchildren and that they "made him young." He told me where he and his wife lived and that if there was ever a time that I was lost or needed help, I had his address. I'm so glad that I talked to him, that I didn't shut down and zone into my iPod so that he would get the point and walk away. It was such an honest human connection, I was slightly taken aback. I wish I had that kind of pluck, to see someone sitting on a park bench and want to walk up to them and have a conversation.
I walked around some more after that, taking a few more pictures, then made my way home. I think my goal of the day was accomplished, which is good. I came home hot, slightly sweaty, and mostly content with the day. I took a little nap, fixed some dinner and watched more West Wing. Nothing fancy or too exciting about the day, but it was an extremely satisfying day, and that's what I need more of.
On another note, I was watching a video of Martin Sheen on Inside the Actor's Studio and he recited this poem by Rabindranath Tagore which I found extremely inspiring:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depths of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Happy Independence Day.
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