Turning a corner?

Yesterday, at Caleb's party, I felt energetic.

Last night I slept well.

This morning I awoke, and still felt good.

I got Tessa to school, came home and did some mail, and then went for a five mile walk - my favorite loop through Lincoln Park. I saw the eagles' nest, I collected shells and beach glass, I breathed in the warm soil scent of the woods and the cool salt scent of the sea. I felt filled with gratitude for it all.

While I was on the urban part of my walk I listened to my iPod. (I did learn last time; now I unplug when I enter the park.) This time I heard a podcast from Speaking of Faith, and it included a poem by Wendell Berry that I'd never heard before. I loved it so much that I came home to look it up, and now I'm sharing it with you.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry

"Day-blind stars" - oh that is beautiful....I close my eyes and I can see them through the sunlight.

Now it's time to run around and do chores and pull out the book materials....but this is a great start to the week.

Edited at 2:52 to add: I haven't accomplished this much in weeks! I scrubbed the bathroom (including a miserable 15 minutes on my knees scrubbing the ring off the tub with Bon Ami and a brush), vacuumed, stripped the beds, and much more. I'm tired now, but in the usual way - I was running around like a crazy person. Tomorrow I'll run at the art museum for Tessa's field trip, and the rest of the week I can do Hunts Point stuff. Fingers crossed that my energy sticks around....