When I could have paused just a bit longer

Its been a while since I've paused long enough in the morning to write. Lifestyle changes (for the better, working out to get back in shape) have cut into my early morning routine just enough to make this reflecting space difficult to find.  Now that those new habits are pretty firmly established, though, hopefully I can bring blogging back into a new balance as well.

It's wet and cloudy again today. That is the complete expression of our current pattern, separated by only the occasional day of sun breaks.  The weather app on my phone keeps popping up a notice to say, "The rain will continue." I suppose that notification function is there to announce upcoming changes in the weather and, if so, it must be getting just as bored as I am with that constant phrase. Yes, the rain will continue.  We know.

What do you think?
I’m trying out this thing where questions about love & forgiveness
are a form of work I’d rather not do alone. I’m trying to say,
Let’s put our briefcases on our heads, in the sudden rain,
& continue meeting as if we’ve just been given our names.
   - from Poplar Street, by Chen Chen

Do follow the link and read that poem in its entirety - you won't regret it!  It's not really about rain at all, which makes it a respite.  Of course, I also hope you will always want to follow the links to the poems I reference and read them fully, and that you will share my love for poetry, and songs, and rain.

The Jacques Loussier Trio sets the perfect tone for a grey day. I can literally hear the rain drops plunking down on the piano keys, picking up pace from a sporadic sprinkle of large wet drops to a wind-driven rain lashing against the window, then back to calm dripping.

Gray hills, gray clouds, gray faces at the pane,
Gray hearts that long for sunshine and blue skies,
The ceaseless rattle of the wind-born rain
Against bleak pavements!
   - from Rainy Days, by Shirley Harvey

There is much that could be said here (anywhere) about things going on in the world right now.  I try to keep this space free from political ranting (see my Twitter feed for more of that), though have strayed at times, I know. But I need this space to breath, center, and be still.  Self care in difficult times, as mundane as it may seem when the external world is all chaos.

I am like the queen of a rainy country,
Powerless and grown old. Another morning
with its quaint obligations: newspaper,
bacon grease, rattle of dishes and bones.
   - from, A Rainy Country, by Linda Pastan

I remind myself that rain can also be comforting.  Maybe that notion comes from having spent my life in this rain-fed verdant corner of the world. Rain gives permission to settle in and be still.  Stay under cover, listen to the rain on the roof, leaves, sidewalk, lake, and wait for a spell.  The rain might let up in a few minutes, and think how foolish I'd feel out getting soaked when I could have paused just a bit longer.

Today's Playlist:

• Gnossienne No. 1 - Jacques Loussier Trio
• Before The Mountains - Largo
• Sophisticated Lady - Duke Ellington
• Country Mile - Camera Obscura
• In Your Atmosphere (Live) - John Mayer
• Free To Be - Bruce Cockburn