Today

Today began with these words: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Not unusual, as I always try to think of at least a dozen reasons to be thankful before I leave the bed in the morning. But today I sang those words. I like to repeat them over and over...in a singsong, because it reminds me of the Three Kings from Gian Carlo Menotti's opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors...a comic chorus. I had plenty of reasons to be thankful today...the Sugar Loaf cafe was not out of their delicious oatmeal today...it was hot and good...Mari, the owner's wife, made the cappucino just right...the bus came on time, the driver stopped and let me on even though he had started to pull away (the bus sign, broken, read, "Not in Service")...it was a Limited, so I got to the next leg of my journey quickly...that bus was in the stop and took off almost as soon as I got there...the sun was shining, I said good morning to the driver, he smiled and said good morning back...I got to my appointment on time...people were kind and patient, I left 3 hours later...I dined in the most fabulous open-air restaurant on earth: a bench in Central Park...I got to observe a robin feasting on the bread crumbs I threw, her mouth full, but still trying to pick up more...a baby sparrow beating its wings, not knowing yet how to dart like the other dive-bombing sparrows to quickly get the biggest crumbs, finally receiving a crumb from its mother...4 coromorants on the Reservoir, 2 in the water, 2 sitting in the branches of a bush over the water...the opportunity to repeat 108 mantras for the recovery of a yoga teacher friend who is ill...the privilege of bending down close to the ground to sniff the incomparable perfume of a wild beach rose, the flower only an inch across...and now to relive it all. What are you grateful for today?