I’m beaming
today is gorgeous
I just ran a mile and
then I went for a long walk
I bought a couple new books
and had a spicy chicken salad
I danced up and down the down-
town sidewalks while listening to a
bunch of fresh new tracks for
what seemed like hours –
and after that, just when it felt
like it was time for a siesta
I made a little detour
back to the office to
reschedule a few of
next week’s meetings
to next month (or the
month after) – which doesn’t
take long at all, maybe an hour – so that
I’m out the door again with plenty of
daylight left ahead of me – I pause
briefly just a few steps outside of
my office building, to draw in a slow and
giddy breath, inhaling a big chunk of
the front-end of the long holiday
weekend, bow, close my eyes briefly,
let it all out with such intent that
my eyes roll up under the
tops of my lids all pleasant-like
for just a second or two – then,
with my bearings gathered, I make a
bee-line to the long bus and hop in
so that it might help me steep the arc of
Sacramento Street as it rainbows over
the hills from Chinatown to Van Ness
before it levels on its trek to Ocean Beach
I twist my neck deliberately so as to
view the world outside of the bus’
left, right and front windows – and this
I do just to recognize anew how beautiful
today is – and also to place myself
as if pinned onto the middle of the
the map that is the world, my world
with its three holidays filled with hard
plans, with extra time and lots of blank
map space for whatever each moment
will bring – leaving a kernel of opportunity
at each literal moment and at each spot
on the incomplete map, question marks
strewn from top to bottom and corner
to corner – plenty enough to sate this
closet cartographer's desire to stay
motivated and get the most out of
each and every second – to turn
each opportunity into a proper life-
affirming and potentially life-altering
adventure – all of this made inevitable by
taking just a modicum of forethought – and
so long as this is done with at least a smidge
of optimism, the potential is exponential – – –
