slack and mellow

I like pictures where people are not necessarily posing, but are being themselves and having fun. This is life. The practice round. The place where you get to be yourself with nary a care as to how you are perceived. 

I am trying to be philosophical about pain. When your body is working fine, it is easy to take everything for granted and to think all of life makes perfect sense as you flow through your busy days. 

When your back goes out yet again and you are forced, against your will, to rest, you notice the small things. Pain makes you notice details, if for no other reason than to distract yourself as you learn to surrender. The glint of sunshine on the deep green grass. The joy of baked apples and hamburgers for dinner. The subtle dignity of your twelve-year-old dog as she lays in the backyard staking out the fat squirrel which is trapped on the uppermost branch of the live oak tree. The fact that all of life is a mystery, which is the beautiful part. And all we have is this minute. 

Flowers are good at being slack and mellow. They say, "Hey, take me as I am here and now because this is all you'll get." People should be more like flowers. Me, especially. I try. And when I don't learn the first time, I get another chance. Oh, joy. Note to self: breathe in, breathe out. Repeat.