If you are looking at your left foot and realizing that your smallest toes are the same color as the purple chair that you are sitting on (having dully tripped on a chairleg and broken and/or horribly sprained those particular toes yesterday), and you are feeling glad that you were able to wear a shoe for long enough to teach and do some overdue paperwork this morning (fortunately it was the last day of classes and few students cared about staying after the Final Review Sheet was handed out), you are also feeling pleased that this afternoon you could finish your shade garden planting project on the back porch (while sitting down, foot elevated), and that John can attend CatGirl’s school event in your stead tonite. You are feeling worried because you have an appointment to get your snappy Reader’s badge at the Huntington Library tomorrow morning and know that will involve more than a bit of walking and you don’t want to cancel because you’ve been anticipating this event for years (plus you have a ride up with a friend and the drive promises some great grad-student gossipy conversation). Well, if this is you, I suggest that you have GameBoy work on dinner (portobello mushroom ravioli in a butternut squash sauce-yum!)while you sit here a moment with your feet up. Take a deep breath and realize the peace that you’ve been feeling since you tripped yesterday and you’ve been forced to move a little slower. And remember that slow can be very good…and then have a spot of tea w/milk in your favorite mug and…just breathe. 🙂

If you are propped up in bed, surrounded by soft pillows and a purring kitty at your side–TobyJoy knowing that its cuddle time because GameBoy is playing his cello (she demands lovin’ whenever he practices). And as she turns on her back for a belly rub you remember the hummingbirds who were buzzing all around your garden this afternoon–including the one that nearly landed on your shoulder and the one who bathed in the curl of a rose bush leaf as you lightly sprayed water above her head. And you are still enjoying the warm glow of a relaxing afternoon: you watched Finding Forrester on DVD (rather pat plot, but with a surprising tenderness from Sean Connery), drank a soul-warming cup of green tea infused with cherry blossoms, and composed a new silly song to sing to CatGirl (to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”) as the two of you brainstormed a perfect colonial-girl costume for her upcoming school play. And if this is you, then you’ll feel a bit of regret as you realize that you’ve been lax in remembering to take your camera to the garden. So you’ll mentally commit to doing so tomorrow, as there are oh-so-many poppies, sweet peas, and roses just begging for photos.

If you were a young girl who insisted that her favorite animal was a platypus, because you didn’t want to like dolphins or dogs or ponies like everyone else, and because you knew the name of your favorite animal should be nearly as fascinating as the animal itself–just saying platypus evoked its uniqueness (this was before you learned of echidnas, but is it a surprise that your son would someday count them as his favorite creature?). If this is you, then you might understand why this girl was delighted to receive the gift of a plush platypus from a Mom who just returned from exploring the underside of the globe. 🙂

If you slept in a bit this morning after a fitful night of bad dreams and awoke at about 9-ish to spend some time with CatGirl and helped her make a sparkly red beaded bracelet, then you went to the garden and piddled around filling gopher holes, watering seedlings, pulling weeds, watching hummingbirds, and giggling at EllyCat’s transformation from a black&white kitty to a dusty brown one (as she rolled and rolled and rolled in the dirt). If this is you, when you come home to meditate on “whirrled peas” with your family and break your fast, make sure you drink a cup of Morrocan Mint tea just after your prayer, as it will both soothe and awaken your senses.

If today you spent the morning on the phone on hold, trying to get through to your insurance company, working on loopholes that might allow you to bill for the “non-allowable” repair of your microprocessor knee, then you spent 3 hours talking feminist theory and history with your colleagues, and afterwards you picked up the kids and then dropped them off at a lecture with John, then you headed to the Science Library to read French medical texts and a too-long book about Buffalo Bill, well if this is you and you find yourself ravenous at 5:30 pm because you realize that the nutella and jam sandwich that you ate at lunch was just too long ago, you should drop by the Veggie Cafe for a quick appetizer before you go grocery shopping at Trader Joes. And when you are at TJs, don’t forget to get a bar of super-dark chocolate because that’s what you’ll be craving later tonight.

If you spent six hours in the community garden this morning, working alongside your neighbors to clear out empty plots, to trim large trees, and filling a semi-truck-sized dumpster within 2 hours. Then you took some time to just sit and talk with your garden–feeling sad that the frost did much damage, seeing how much work needs to be done before spring planting, realizing that momotaro (peach tree #2) didn’t make it. And then you got slightly sunburned (such a sunny day!) and you returned home with leaves in your hair, burrs in your socks, and mud on your pants.

So if this is you, you should pick a bouquet of lavender and put it on your nightstand–filling your bedroom with its relaxing scent, then take a warm shower and wash the organic matter out of your hair, put on your new favorite wool sweater and curl up on the bed with Ellycat (who can’t resist cuddling with a wool sweater) and take a short nap.