Inching Toward Simplicity: Pragmatics and Prose

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

New Spring, New Year


Pragmatics


I don't have a lot of pragmatics this time around-- must be the spring fever.


  • -I do, however, have a great book recommendation, very much in the theme of new beginnings. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty is a treat, a very hopeful and poignant treat, for the mind and soul.

  • -Unrelated, but a little crowing to do: The Get Satisfied book enjoyed a healthy dose of publicity via MSN.com. Here's the link to "5 Money Books to Change Your Life."

Prose

Saturday, much of it filled with errands, held unexpected joys. The local IGA market seemed to hold half the community in its aisles, many of them preparing for Easter. I caught up with neighbors, chatting on everything from church to walking to finding true happiness at work. Half the carts seemed to balance tulip plants and asparagus, and my neighbors’ faces seemed lit up with the promise of spring and its gateway holiday, Easter.

Later, Gavin and I met friends at the library Easter Egg Hunt, and then walked over for the year’s first Saturday playground romp. The wind was mild, Gavin and Zakariya reveled in their boundless energy, and I got to know Zakariya’s mom much better. I even got just the slightest hint of sunburn on my nose.

After Easter dinner, our family strolled down to the foot of Essex Main Street and enjoyed the mini-beach that abuts the Connecticut River. It struck me as we drank in the early spring sun that the year contains many beginnings. On March 20 I heard several people, young and old, work the first day of spring into their conversation. Crocus and daffodil sightings are now reported regularly, with sincere enthusiasm.

The last “beginning” was the official New Year, when the ball dropped and we all resolved to make a multitude of changes. But the spring beginning feels more real to me, more in the moment. Not so much of “I’m going to…” as “I am here; I am noticing the world around me. I am experiencing hope.”

Another new beginning awaits me: after 3 days of training in New York City, I’ll be a truly home-based medical writer with an Internet company. I am looking forward to more relaxed mornings, a low key wardrobe, and diminished gas and dry cleaning bills. I hope my home schedule also translates into wiser use of time— working more efficiently and steadily, planning meals and home tasks more thoughtfully, using lunch to write a few creative paragraphs. I’m looking forward to seeing it unfold.

Come to think of it, each year contains so many new beginnings: the turning of each season, birthdays, back to school, out for summer, and of course the actual New Year. All of these are opportunities, naturally occurring reminders to step back and reflect, to both appreciate and create new promises.

Labels: , , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home