Process

Bagpipe band

Sunset. I sit on my front porch at the end of this day, in the same spot where I started it; on the popasan chair. I am getting second hand high on the fumes of whatever my neighbors are smoking. I'm jamming to the crazy super bass of the suburbans, low riders, and bikers with boom boxes passing by. Giggles come from inside my house. I just love the ladies I live with. They are delightful! However I am an introvert who spent the majority of the day with people and I need my hour alone out here to process.

Gazing off into the sunset with a full heart and exhumed body, I reminisce the day.

A friend I've been playing phone tag with all day calls and we chat for a bit. So much for introvert time, but I m a verbal processor and she is a good active listener, so Christy and I chat. We make plans for going Up North to my family cabin. Eeeeeek I am so excited to get outta the city and into the North Woods with the loons and lakes and forest berries and bears and ... bugs ... oh my! And I am excited she confirmed she's coming along!

I digress...

I started writing a book today! I saw some of my favorite people and did some of my favorite things in my favorite spaces and places.

(Cue the sound of music "these are a few of my favorite things" song)

Coffee and cake and picnics and painting, flowers and friends and a cute laberidoodle. Painting and singing and ice cream and noodles. Waterfalls rushing and oak trees in the beeeze... These are a few of my favorite things!!!

When the the bugs bite, when the...

Again I digress...

I was very aware today. I felt so alive and free. Free to do whatever I wanted. Free to be exactly who I am. Free to believe that the world is my playground. With the city as my scene I filled it with the colors of my soul.

After an afternoon at Minnehaha Falls (my childhood backyard) I joined my parents for dinner on their back patio. They have created quite the haven back there. A little escape of flower pots filled to overflowing with vibrant flowers and herbs. They make the best dinners. I vote for their patio cafe as best In the city for fine dining and atmosphere.

We started with a glass of sun brewed iced tea, then a glass of Riesling with a slice of French bread while I watched my dad BBQ the herb encrusted chicken on the grill. My mom brought out an Asian slaw and fresh peaches and raspberries coated lightly with sugar. By the time my dad had the chicken ready she was bringing fresh sweet corn, and before we could pray I was covered in butter and feeling like one blesses child.

We share our days worth of stories between bites and the sound of the bagpipe band rehearsing next door. I felt my parents sit back in wonder, admiring me for all the whimsy that fills me. I feel silly as I share some aspects of my life with them. I don't know if I am the child they would have hoped I'd become, but I assure them I am yet a child. I am so thankful for my parents. I see myself in both of them. Or the other way around, I see both of them in me. That makes me happy.

I love their bagpipe band neighbors. Thursday evening, around golden hour until sunset they rehearse, filling the atmosphere with Scottish sounds of joy.

After dinner I chased the sunset through the city. Hiawatha to 7th street, though downtown, all the way to my front porch in North. It feels different here. It's so funny to me how polar opposite two sections of the same city can be. From bagpipes to boom boxes...