First, I worked out. Then I mailed letters at the post of...

First, I worked out. Then I mailed letters at the post office, stopped to get gas, deposited money at the bank, bought garden soil at Home Depot, rushed through the grocery store to get the fifteen items on the list and drove home. I pulled up in the driveway, opened my door, swung my legs out, and, because I was tired, just sat there a moment. And as I did, a bird flew across my line of vision.

I followed it with my eyes up to where it perched on a branch on the maple tree that grows in the center of our front yard. I was curious to see what kind of bird it was. A cardinal? A robin? Blue jay? No, it was just a brownish-gray colored bird, probably a brown thrasher since that’s the Georgia state bird. I mentally shrugged. Just a nondescript bird. Or was it?

At closer inspection it was really quite lovely. A longish tail. I’ve always thought birds with long tail feathers were pretty in the way I think horses with long manes are pretty. This bird also had some lovely black speckles on his breast. And then, my eye went past the bird to the brilliant blue sky in the background.

Why had I not noticed just how blue the sky was today? I smiled as I watched the pretty bird against the bright blue background. And my mind became quiet and something happened.

I felt the breeze blow. I heard the wind chimes tinkle that hung in that very same maple tree. I lifted my face up and smiled as I felt the warmth of the sun. And I simply listened. Really listened. I heard more birds, tweeting and chattering in that lovely, merry sort of way they have. It lifted my heart. I heard a dog bark from far away. Maybe at a mailman or maybe as it played with its owner or even from behind a fence as someone walked by.

I looked around me as I sat in the drivers seat with the car door open and my feet on the driveway. The pansies I’d planted last fall were coming back, bright and happy. The grass had greened up. A few big ol’ bumble bees were hovering over the lawn. This is nice, I thought. I love spring, I thought.  I closed my eyes briefly and took a moment to be grateful. And I could swear I felt a hand touch my head as the words, “You’re welcome,” drifted into my mind. As a lily might open to the sun, I felt my heart expand.

Breathing a deep sigh of peace, I stood, gathered my bags from the back seat and went into the house, rejuvenated and ready to sit and write and  share this tiny moment with the world.