Reflections: A New Vision

This advent my two-year-old, Penny, and I have started a new routine in the wee hours of the morning. Penny says, “Good morning, tree!” I plug in the Christmas tree lights, drop a couple octaves, and declare, “Good morning, Penny!” The tree’s glow lights up her face and for a moment she looks like an angel, completely transfixed. Before the moment’s gone, I regard her as free from the burden of life and unaware of the certainties of pain and death ahead. I wonder what she could be thinking and it dawns on me: just the tree, the object that casts light on her face.

This one is for my fellow logic-brained thinkers, who feel lost amidst a sea of seemingly random and disconnected words when reading poetry, who wondered—much to your teacher’s pain—“If that’s what the author meant, why didn’t the author just say it?!”, and who haven’t picked up a fiction book since … well, let’s just say since another decade. Come with me; there’s no shame here. We’ve been missing a lot, it turns out.

Loyalty. Webster’s defines loyalty as “faithfulness to commitments.” It’s a simple word and idea. It’s a trait we all appreciate when we see it, especially if we’re the beneficiary of someone’s loyalty. And it can be exceedingly difficult to practice.

What do you think of when you think of “possibility?” 

I’ll give you a minute. And then I’ll share where my mind goes.

Conceptually speaking, I picture the moment of charged energy fueling the beauty of what’s possible. That sound of an orchestra tuning their instruments. Five year-olds wearing pristine new backpacks on the first day of kindergarten. The first flowers poking out of the winter ground. Clean beginnings.