compliments of ...

Obligatory sentence about it being over four years since my most recent blog post.

So, last week I had one of those days that etches itself into your brain like the smell of Aunt Taddy’s chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven.

On the way to work I passed a parked car I assume I pass most days on 26^thStreet between Penn and Liberty. It’s a little black something or other and sports a bumper sticker that looks something like this except, instead of a smiling sunny face, it pictures a cross.

Most days I ignore this sticker. Not the words, per se; I’ve nothing against enjoying my day and nothing about my job disallows this. But, you know. We see stuff often enough we don’t see it any more.

I went on to the office and about the business of working my job, listening to music and otherwise enjoying my day compliments of God. Around 10:30 I got up for my morning trek to fill my water bottle at the cooler, smiling here and there, nodding ‘sup’s, and stretching my legs. 

On the way I passed a young woman in our department who wears a colorful hijab each day. I think this day it was purple. Or maybe pink. I see her most every day, I think, but, I’ve never spoken with her. This day I overheard her laughing with one of her teammates as they emerged from the break room clutching cups of coffee like favored birthday gifts. She has a boisterous laugh, and, I’m guessing a smile to go with it.  I wondered if she’d seen the bumper sticker.

I finished up my work day and went for my afternoon run – 5 ½ ish miles from the Strip, along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, around Point State Park, across the Fort Duquesne Bridge, up the trail to Heinz Field, back down the trail to the Rachel Carson Bridge and into the Strip (in case you’re wondering).  My earbuds recently passed on to a better place, so I was a little more attentive than normal to my surroundings. I heard the geese honking at each other as they flew up the Allegheny. I noticed a recent effort to remove litter from the trail. I saw a couple kids passing a blunt under the Andy Warhol Bridge. 

On the way around the fountain at Point State Park I passed a trio of bhikkhus dressed in brilliant saffron kasaya robes. The one who looked the oldest wore glasses similar to mine. They all talked at the same time and the one in the middle was trying to take a selfie…or whatever you call such a thing for three people. From the awkwardness of their effort, I’m guessing this was not something these fellas do on a regular basis. The picture…not the all talking at the same time. Their laughter was slightly higher pitched than my hijab wearing co-worker’s, but, I think by the time it reached the sky it sounded much the same. 

On the way toward the Fort Pitt Bridge and my turn back toward dahntahn, not 50 yards away from the bhikkhus, I passed a large family of Hasidic Jews; maybe nine or ten. They were all talking at the same time, trying to squeeze into the frame, so the patriarch, wearing a broad rimmed black fedora, could capture the moment on his phone. I didn’t understand a word they said. But, the music of their laughter chorused with their Buddhist brothers on the other side of the fountain. I was glad my earbuds were no longer communicating with my ipod.

The rest of my run was given to thinking about what I’d seen and heard. It’d been a good day.

One thing I learn the older I get is how little I can say with certainty I know. I know my wife and kids never cease to amaze me. I know the number of things worth stressing over gets shorter with every breath I draw. I know time well lived is time lived outdoors. 

And, I know this.

I am beyond #blessed to live a day in which I’m treated to four very different understandings of one very fundamental truth: today’s the day we’ve got, and it’s worth enjoying. It’s a truth that’s worth gluing to our cars. Worth proclaiming loudly through the fabric of our religion. Worth capturing digitally and sharing with our friends and the world.