I slept well last night. I only made it through half the ShoGun episode before I knew it was time to go to bed. I laid down and closed my eyes, and had a moment of wondering if I would be up and down again like the night before, and then *poof* I was asleep. This is good; this is the Way.
FitBit says I slept from 10:30 to 6:45, which is a nice solid sleep schedule (I stopped using an alarm of any sort when my then-current FitBit died in March of 2020). I felt refreshed but not exactly lively when I woke up, which is pretty solid for a "waking up" space. While I was making tea, I noticed a couple now-empty boxes that need to go out, and I decided to take advantage of the break in the rain to take them to the dumpster, then kept walking afterwards to the courthouse and back. It's supposed to start thunderstorming again soon and then last all day, as if the rainy weather is only pausing to gather itself into a proper storm.
On my walk, I passed a bailiff who came out to raise the flag and a few other court workers making their way in from one parking lot or another, and each one said a brief variant of "Good morning," or "have a nice day" or "get those steps in while it's still dry." I find this incidental connectedness restorative and lovely. It reminds me of the intro to Sesame Street, when the camera pans across regular neighborhood people doing their regular neighborhood things, waving at the camera as it comes up and then moves along. We are here; we are seen; we are part of Neighborhood Things.
The windows of the Loft are more directly in line with a church nearby, and while I sit in the library, I can hear the bells toll the hour and the half-hour. I like this as a way of marking my time in the day. The tea is ready and the bells are letting me know that it's time for the workaday tasks. I feel centered and whole.
This is the Way.
❤️
