What I’m Learning
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This month’s reflective post, via Emily P. Freeman, is a list of things I’m learning. I am a slow processor, so I don’t generally understand what I’m learning without time and space to examine and test it. None of these I’m listing here are new lessons to me; they tend to be things I’m realizing again in this new season.
Pay attention to the sunset. A soft pink and cream sunset laced by the dark lines of trees and blinds is a form of comfort. I see it outside my window and stop myself to notice it. The sunset seems far away, on the other side of the woods, but the bare trees let me still see it clearly, overlaid by those branches and by the lines of my window blinds. I don’t stop for long, but even a glimpse of its perfection and loveliness is enough to slow me. I needed slowing.
I hope I never take March Madness for granted again. Two years ago, I was feeling blindsided as events and places shut down. I shouldn’t have been so shocked, of course–even at my school, math classes had been graphing and tracing the spread of COVID, and I knew it was serious.
But in my surprised and bewildered state, one thing that brought home the gravity of the situation to me was the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournament. That tournament is a big deal in this house–we buy snacks, we make our brackets, I fall asleep to the sounds of crowds roaring and broadcasters announcing scores. We never watched much basketball in my house growing up, and I consider the tournament a gift of my marriage. I’m surprised by how much I love it…and I was surprised at how devastated I was to lose it.
Tonight, I had to go to a couple of stores after dinner. I came home to my people playing video games and reading, and I wanted to demand that they turn on the games, that they appreciate what’s happening right now, on the other side of our screen–this wonderful event of college basketball rolling on again, its own little miracle.
It’s really easy to let myself feel that the serious, terrible things in the world are “other” and live as if they can’t affect me, and two years ago, that’s what I was doing. I hope that’s a lesson I won’t have to repeat.
Laughter is a necessity. Things that have made me laugh lately: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell on a silly YouTube video. Ted Lasso. The way my sister tells a story. Little boys singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of their lungs. A scene from a book set in Kentucky. A student who came to my office for help with English, but who really just wanted to sit and tell stories. The book, Jesus Without Borders by Chad Gibbs, that my daughter and I are reading before bed.
Good laughter can feel like stepping away from something and shaking the dust off my feet. It’s my favorite music right now. Let it keep playing.