The Way to Look at It

Went looking for beauty yesterday. Needed to flush some adrenaline from my system. Started on the back porch in the morning. The sun was just up, there was a light fog sitting on the treetops in the back pasture, and a cool breeze. Came back after breakfast, and the sky was clearing. The moon hung just so over the horizon and there was a small wisp of pink cloud drifting off to lord knows where. The air was still cool

Later that day I sat down at the piano to work out a melody I’d been humming and decided to try and write it down on staff paper. That was a first, and I’m sure I botched it because – time. It like deciding you’re going to write a novel in German when the best you can do ordinarily is order a glass of water and know what the next stop is on the trolley. But I tried and my son helped and we talked about sixths and ninths and incidentals and minor chords. Eventually I got it done – a little noodle in the key of C. It may not be a thing of beauty, but it made me feel good.

And that is how I got the bad day of Friday out of my system, although I’d really like to find the folks who suffered this fool and offer them an apology. That would be the cherry on top or the icing on the cake or the period at the end of the sentence. I’m still thinking on that. But at the moment, I’ve internalized everything, seen the error of my ways, found beauty in the world and vowed, once again, to try and bring joy, because that’s just a heck of a lot more fun than the alternative and probably better for my health.