Saturday Night: Things that Moved Me This Week

This is what has been extraordinary here this week:

– A colleague told me about her ‘after her day job’ work housing people recently discharged from prison, work she does with her husband out of pure commitment, no business, no funding, just belief in social justice and giving people a second chance. She goes home to men living in her house that many people won’t let live on their block.

– A child of mine had an extraordinary event in her life that touched me but only through many layers and years; I knew enough to stand back and be out of the way, being someone’s mother often means spending time in the hall, getting reacquainted with patience and the soft kindness of not having to know everything right this minute.

– I shook the hand of someone who loves one of my kids and knew that how ever long it lasts, it’s a lucky and fine thing, my gratitude almost spilling on to my shirt, thank you for loving the person I’ve loved for so long, it just makes me glad.

– I rode my bike down a path through the trees, put the brakes on for a minute and then let go, the sun shining though the branches, faster cyclists speeding by coming and going, everyone in their fast, right place, I had my place, too, it had been waiting for me.

– I had breakfast with one of my sons and listened to him tell me about his life and praised the day that we met.

– Another child is headed home for a visit so I think of all the things that make this place a rich place, green and lush and worth coming from and returning to, I want to take her everywhere and have everything and everyone be special and on their best behavior, in full flower.

– I saw the pictures of the Biden family, saw Joe Biden in his incredible sorrow and Jill Biden holding her granddaughter and thought how grandmothers can tend to so many deep, terrible wounds and I was glad for both granddaughter and grandmother that they had each other, I aspire to be there when it counts, to do my job as well.

– I sat on the back porch with my husband and heard him say, “We have a pretty good life,” and thought, yes, we do, but I take nothing for granted, not for a single second.

That was my week. That’s what I remember on this fine Saturday night.