Home alone on a Friday night.   It’s summertime.   Nowhere I must go; nothing I must do. Time to be quiet; time to just be. I fix a simple meal and am drawn to the dark screened porch. The first thing I notice is that I’m noticing everything. All of my senses are awake at the same time.

Soothing heat sinks into bones and gentle breeze caresses skin. Wind whispers in treetops and night creatures sing. I savor cold shellfish, crisp salad , sweet cherries. Candlelight dances on  glass table top. Fireflies flicker and dance out there too, beyond the porch.  I smell green things growing and flowers in full bloom.  Two black and white cats have joined me, sharing the porch and sensing the night.

I feel the aliveness in all of these and in my own body. I sense that I, too, am this — this nature, this earth, this intelligence, this beauty and grace, this magnificence, this life.

I am grateful. I am still. I am.

I share this experience in honor of summer and of solitude. My heartfelt wish is that you find a way soon to slow down and give yourself the gift of silence and stillness.

Explore. Dream. Discover!

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