500 Days of Paul, Henri ,Forrest, & and Artichokes
My mother & father went to the Paul McCartney concert this weekend, and I’d like to say that I’m proud of them for it. It seems important for people to hold onto what was good and beautiful about their youth and remember it. My dad got this great picture of my mother which. I won’t post it here for her…own…sake.
That is what summer is about to me: being taken, given, blessed, and broken as Henri Nouwen says. But mostly, I’m talking about the being blessed-remembering who I am. Remembering all that is good and beautiful in the life I’ve been given and celebrating it. We go outside, take walks in Greenbelt Park, play in the fountain, watch movies–things that feed us for the rest of the year that seems so unpredictable.
The summer also takes me back to things I don’t really want to remember–something like Forrest Gump must do for people my parents age and old “burnt out” hippies.
At the end of the day (or at the beginning or at midday when the noonday devil appears), what I want to do is sit out front on the porch, breathe in and out, and eat….an artichoke, good old ’70s style.