{"id":6827,"date":"2013-09-03T13:08:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T17:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=6827"},"modified":"2013-09-03T13:08:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T17:08:14","slug":"praise-for-everyday-love-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/09\/praise-for-everyday-love-affairs.html","title":{"rendered":"praise for everyday love affairs –"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Photo_042709_002\"<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n

There is nothing special, really, about these flowers. I grew them in the side garden — roses & sage. Easy, really. They come up every year, like clockwork. Perennials do that.<\/p>\n

But I never take them for granted. Each spring, when they reappear, it’s a small miracle to me. And each time they rebloom, through the summer and into the fall, it’s another. The everyday magic so much a part of our days that we often take it for granted.<\/p>\n

I saw a skunk on the road at twilight half a block from my son’s new home. Crisp black & white, it looked far more beautiful than dangerous. And last night, a cicada was so drunk on summer that he flew right into me. A bit startling, but still funny.<\/p>\n

This poem by Billy Collins — whom I confess to adoring, not a popular stance among academics, I assure you — reminds me that we need to pay attention. And that I’m hopelessly attached to my life. To tea with my nephew and his girlfriend yesterday — gluten-free ginger scones, and Devon cream and the house tea and cucumber & salmon on crackers. To roses and the fledgling finch at the feeder. To the wide circles of the neighbourhood hawks. To the way my grandson ignites in smiles after his nap.<\/p>\n

To new music and the way the yard looks after mowing. To the thrum of frogs in the evening. \"2012-05-28<\/a>To the luxury of time and nothing scheduled.<\/p>\n

Your life is, I promise you, equally rich. If you just take the time to fall in love again. Here’s Billy Collins to remind you how ~<\/p>\n

Aimless Love<\/p>\n

~ Billy Collins<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
\nI fell in love with a wren
\nand later in the day with a mouse
\nthe cat had dropped under the dining room table.<\/p>\n

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
\nI fell for a seamstress
\nstill at her machine in the tailor’s window,
\nand later for a bowl of broth,
\nsteam rising like smoke from a naval battle.<\/p>\n

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
\nwithout recompense, without gifts,
\nor unkind words, without suspicion,
\nor silence on the telephone.<\/p>\n

The love of the chestnut,
\nthe jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.<\/p>\n

No lust, no slam of the door\u2014
\nthe love of the miniature orange tree,
\nthe clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
\nthe highway that cuts across Florida.<\/p>\n

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor\u2014
\njust a twinge every now and then<\/p>\n

for the wren who had built her nest
\non a low branch overhanging the water
\nand for the dead mouse,
\nstill dressed in its light brown suit.<\/p>\n

But my heart is always propped up
\nin a field on its tripod,
\nready for the next arrow.<\/p>\n

After I carried the mouse by the tail
\nto a pile of leaves in the woods,
\nI found myself standing at the bathroom sink
\ngazing down affectionately at the soap,<\/p>\n

so patient and soluble,
\nso at home in its pale green soap dish.
\nI could feel myself falling again
\nas I felt its turning in my wet hands
\nand caught the scent of lavender and stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is nothing special, really, about these flowers. I grew them in the side garden — roses & sage. Easy, really. They come up every year, like clockwork. Perennials do that. But I never take them for granted. Each spring, when they reappear, it’s a small miracle to me. And each time they rebloom, through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,576,396,397],"tags":[1234,11,1181,1187,262,614],"class_list":["post-6827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attachment","category-everyday-living","category-happiness","category-love","tag-attachment","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-everyday-magic"],"yoast_head":"\npraise for everyday love affairs - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is nothing special, really, about these flowers. I grew them in the side garden -- roses & sage. Easy, really. They come up every year, like\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/09\/praise-for-everyday-love-affairs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"praise for everyday love affairs - Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is nothing special, really, about these flowers. I grew them in the side garden -- roses & sage. Easy, really. They come up every year, like\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/09\/praise-for-everyday-love-affairs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-03T17:08:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/files\/2013\/09\/Photo_042709_002-300x240.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Britton Gildersleeve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"praise for everyday love affairs - Beginner's Heart","description":"There is nothing special, really, about these flowers. I grew them in the side garden -- roses & sage. Easy, really. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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