It is Christmas Eve. I take an early morning drive to the supermarket to get more eggs, bread, coffee and bananas, some of the staples that have disappeared from our kitchen. I come back, have breakfast, wash dishes, take a few pictures of our tree and of our daughter. She dons a red blouse, stretchy jeans and boots, and I think she is the most beautiful creature in the world.
But then another beautiful creature shows up from the bedroom: my wife. She has on a deep blue blouse and matching grey tights. She smells of heaven. Wow! My kids linger in the living room and kitchen; they hug and kiss me. Merry Christmas, Papi! They say. My married daughter will be visiting later, however, she will miss me because I will be gone to work. I will imagine the excitement when everyone opens their gifts and the goings on as they eat my wife’s delicious cooking. All is well. I have been having my Christmas for a while now. Being reborn to a new day, a new life, to more love, to more passion and hope.
I go to my meditation spot by the lake and sit in one of the lanai’s plastic chairs I pulled out there. There is a cool breeze. The sky is overcast with bi-colored clouds, yet I know “there are no clouds above the clouds”. The association has repaired a fountain that spews water to at least 10 feet high, and I submerge myself in the movement and sound of the streams falling back unto the surface of the lake. I breathe. Ducks run from the shore and splash on the water. Suddenly two flamingos streak their pink bodies right over me, flapping rhythmically toward the south. I wonder if they from a couple or are just friends.
I am a very fortunate man, having been a participant of a beautiful family, a rewarding life, and an amazing world.
This Christmas, I am extraordinarily conscious of the birth of a new me. Without taking anything away from the traditional and religious meaning of the celebration, why couldn’t the new child in the historical, as well as spiritual manger, signal the birth of the best human beings can offer to this great life?
Open your eyes to life in a way you have never dared to do. Take on all the challenges with conviction, love and valor. Say yes to opportunities, believing you will achieve. Love others as you love yourself, and if you don’t yet, start doing so.
Let this Christmas, be the birth of you!
Copyright 2017, J. G. Herrera
WONDERFUL SIMPLICITIES By Author J. G. Herrera 