And so we come to the end of another week. It has felt at times to have been very long and very exhausting. Several evenings have seen me nodding off at the keyboard too tired to form a coherent sentence, this evening being no exception; I just awoke having fallen asleep for several minutes, perhaps more than an hour. I am grateful to have the next two days off of work when I can sleep a little longer in the morning and be free from the 60 to 75 to 90 minute commute home in the evenings. It has been particularly difficult being in the car that long now that it’s dark in the evenings. The other night I experienced the longest drive in many months: nearly two hours on the road.
One could suggest that it is my own doing that led me to having this commute in the first place–I was the one who chose to live over 26 miles from my workplace–and they would be correct, it was entirely my doing. When I chose where I wanted to settle in it was with the idea that I wanted to live close to my three sisters. From where I live I am within 15 minutes of each of them. Family trumped convenience, and for the most part it will continue to do so. Even though I drag myself out of the car some nights, exhausted and grateful to have slogged home in the mind-numbing, bumper-to-bumper traffic that is a hallmark of DC-area driving, I still wouldn’t trade it for being a short 15-minute ride to my sisters’ homes. It’s a good thing.
And so, on an evening when simple gratitude is about all I can muster (after all, I can’t write insightful masterpieces about the Balrog every night)I begin as I often do, with gratitude for family. Broader than blood kin, this evening I would widen the circle to include dear friends and the circle of good colleagues with whom I have the good fortune to work with on a daily basis. I am grateful to and for the many dedicated, talented, creative, passionate, energetic people with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work. Many have become friends–some I remain in contact with after many years, as well as those who drift in and out of my life with whom I am only periodically in touch. Were I to stop for a few moments and think about the impact that circle of people have had and are having on the world I think I would be amazed at how many lives have been touched and good has been done by some of the people in my circle of family, friends, and wonderful coworkers. I remain grateful to and for them all.
So I am indeed grateful for the upcoming weekend. And though I have a lot I need to get done, I will spend some time in simple activities like raking the leaves that have taken over my yard and doing some cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and other weekend-types of things. I am grateful for the mundane simplicity and physical nature of these tasks after the mentally and emotionally-wearing, complicated and complex week at work. I am looking forward to creating for myself a few quiet spaces in the midst of the weekend activities.
As I often do at the end of some days, I offer the brief prayer that my sister shared with me a number of years ago from the New Zealand prayer book:
God, it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us, and all who have no peace.
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys, new possibilities.
In your name we pray. Amen.
And so it is. And I am grateful.
