Joy

I talked tonight with a writer who was also my advisor throughout college. We haven’t talked in five years, and when I emailed her, I didn’t know what to expect. But there, suddenly on the phone was her soft southern drawl, her kindness, her wisdom traveling over the wires to me, and afterwards I just lay back on my bed and grinned. It feels so good to talk with someone you admire. She said, “As I’ve lived I’ve learned that it’s all about asking good questions. Ask what you can learn from this situation. Ask what is good about this situation. Ask how you can learn.”

And she said, “You will learn something from this that you can’t learn any other way.”

And she is right.

** I open the door and joy rushes in, an unexpected guest, a urchin with a clever grin. Nothing to do but to bow down now, and place alms in the bowl of gratitude.