Sometimes at the end of the day I feel like it’s already tomorrow–that I’ve already been active for two days worth of day. Things that seem like happened yesterday actually occurred this morning and conversations that seemed so long ago happened within the last few hours. Of course having a nearly two hour commute (1:50:02) tends to contribute to that feeling. I am sooooooo grateful to be nearing the end of the week. Because I’ve had several 48 hour days that the work week has felt more like 10 days than 5. I don’t have the energy to write much this evening, which is a little disappointing. Nevertheless I do want to at least offer a few items for simple gratitude.
As recent readers of this blog know by now I am a self-proclaimed “bird nerd.” I love to watch birds, identify them from their songs and calls, and take dozens of pictures of them. Last year I stumbled across an eagle’s nest camera–literally a camera pointed at the nest of a pair of bald eagle parents raising three youngsters in a nest high up in a tree near an Iowa farm. I watched the eaglets grow from fuzzy, awkward little white feathered creatures to large, sleek, dark colored eagles too big to remain in their home nest. They gave me months of viewing pleasure until the three flew away, presumably to start their own families somewhere. I have no idea how long it takes a bald eagle to develop the distinctive white feathering on their heads, but these birds were almost as stately in their deep brown-black plumage.
When I went back to look for the eagle cam this year, it appear that the eagles decided to nest in a different tree and not the one where the camera was trained on it. So I determined to find another family to follow and now I am watching three different nests–two bald eagle families and a red-tailed hawk. My schedule has been so crazy during the week that I can’t see two of the nests because it’s night time. The third is in California (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/humboldt-bay-eagle-cam/theater) and I usually have enough light to watch them for a while. I am looking forward to watching these birds grow from hatchlings into young adults. I love nature and am so grateful for the technology that allows me to watch these beautiful creatures.
I am grateful for something else, completely unrelated to the birds and nature, unless you count human nature. This evening as I was stuck in traffic (It took me an hour to go three miles…) I started into my usual ill-tempered, foul-mouthed railing against the gridlock. I say “usual” but I am usually alright with slower traffic; but the bumper-to-bumper standstill on the beltway headed from Virginia into Maryland sometimes sends me right over the edge of impatience, frustration and madness. Today, right in the middle of one of my tirades, I stopped myself. I calmed myself down, took some breaths, and decided not to look at my watch during the worst of the gridlock. I told myself to pretend that I had just started the drive (versus already being an hour into it) and continued to listen to my audiobook, determined to remain as calm as I possibly could given the situation. For the most part I managed it for the majority of my 110 minute trip. I am grateful for the strength required to pull myself out of my commuter funk and into a better space. It wasn’t easy and I hit an occasional “bump” in my plan to be calm, but for the most part I was able to maintain a level of equanimity throughout much of the time. I even managed to still play ball with the dog (though I couldn’t have felt less like doing anything of the sort.) After all, she didn’t deserve my ill-temperedness.
Today has been another tiring day. But tomorrow is Friday and I am looking forward to getting a little rest over the weekend. Meanwhile I’ll do my best to remain present throughout the workday Friday and approach my commute home in the evening with as much calm as I can muster. I am grateful in advance for the tools and resources that will help me have another safe, uneventful and maybe even enjoyable drive home. May it be so!
