10-10-2020 Snow Day - Not
It was a disappointment. Great Aunt Suze had wanted the snow so much. It was a reason to stay in, work on some of her “inside” projects, be quiet, let the white dusting of snow cover her bits of lawn and the garden. She had really looked forward to it. But when she opened her blinds this morning, nothing but wet.
Yesterday, as the day’s light had begun to drop, GAS had gone out into the garden. She was a sight. She was wearing her black all traction shoes, the ones that squeaked with each step, the ones she called her squeakers. She had on old black stretch pants, a shirt, an old friend type of sweater and her infamous orange fishing jacket with hood up. She had wandered the garden telling it the snow was coming, that it too could enjoy a rest from the rain always dripping down. She had found herself saying goodnight to the moss, to the bark on the crepe myrtle, to the pine tree needles. If the neighbors had heard, they might have thought her nuts, but that was just the way it was with Great Aunt Sue.
Her garden was her world and she told the kids that every live being, even plant material, was Sentient. “A sentient being is one with the faculty of sensation and the power to perceive, reason and think,” she said. “It’s complicated, but the idea is that the plants are alive. They can feel.” And while GAS was not sure the plants could reason or think, they sure seemed to respond to things she did for them. So, she taught the children to be respectful and loving in the garden. No stepping on the worms, no squashing spiders, no ripping leaves from plants. Respect and love. That was her rule.
GAS was her best self at home on Garden Home Road, and she knew it. Relaxed, at ease, content. GAS had a prayer she said to herself each night as she went to sleep.
May I be heard.
May I be connected.
May I be loved.
May I be safe and secure.
What a great way to go to sleep. But GAS rarely made it to the safe and secure part. She usually fell asleep somewhere between connected and loved. It was just the way she was.
“I know,” she said outloud, “I’ll pretend that this is a snow day!” And so, she did. GAS built herself a fire in the family room, a big one. She turned on the lights that circled her house, hanging gently off the railings of the decks. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and settled into her chair.
And as she nestled in, with a cat on each side of her, she said her bedtime prayer and she made it all the way through.
May I be heard.
May I be connected.
May I be loved.
May I be safe and secure.
.