Look up

And, Mary Oliver

I’ve been looking up a lot lately. Not in a mental-health-way. In a physical way. Like looking up with my eyes to the sky or to the horizon if I was originally looking at the ground. I first recognized myself doing this when I took my dog out in the morning. Many of you who are long-time people here know my sweet golden retriever, Charlie. If you don’t yet, here he is:

While waiting for Charlie to do his morning routine, I heard geese (which I’ve always loved). It automatically made me look up and see them fly over in formation. If I’m honest, it kind-of took my breath away. And, I whispered a “thank you”. Here’s the thing though. I didn’t mean to. A “thank you” just came out. This morning was super crisp, like North Carolina is this time of year, and I was going through the motions of a routine morning with Charlie while making a mental list of work and kid obligations. The geese, though, made me look up. They interrupted my list and chore making. And, in doing so, I did something else.

I took a deep breath. And, thought of the Mary Oliver poem. (We’ll get to the poem in a minute.)