Sometimes, anytime’s the right time …

Sometimes, anytime’s the right time.
A moment grabbed,
taken.
Whole
moments savored,
easy
goal.
Held tight-tightly
to your
soul.*

Oh, don’t ask me. It just fell in there. I’m not sure what I think about it, but there it is.

Great afternoon with my family after a really excellent Spanish lesson in which I was able to talk as if I actually speak Spanish.  It’s so strange how up and down my ability is.  Sometimes I have no words at all, can’t remember how to say more than hello.  And then there are times like today when I’m talking about creating a longitudinal data system (no, really) and leadership development in the community and I’m just zipping along as if I chat about these things all the time.  Crazy.  What’s the secret door in my brain that opens in those moments?  I wish I had the key to that door.

This afternoon’s visit with my family was a quick fix, one I was jonesing for big time.  Those few hours were full of a lot of laughter (and truly amazing ribs made by my sister-in-law!).  My niece with her newly-minted thirteen year old self is gorgeous and wild, blowing my mind at every turn.  My nephew was uncharacteristically chatty today, with his lacrosse-made, seven-stitches-worthy cut high on his cheek making him look tough.  These two hold my heart.  Funny, smart, beautiful.  I see them and think of that French phrase, “bien dans sa peau,” to be well in your skin.  They are so themselves, so comfortable with exactly who they are.  It’s fabulous to watch.

We talked about The Hunger Games quite a bit.  My niece had been wanting to see it and finally did this past week.  I wanted to talk about some of the darker things that have come up around the movie, but decided to stick with talking about the story and encouraging her to read the books.  I struggle with determining what is the conversation to have about race with either of them.  I don’t have a sense of how much either of them has had to deal with racism, or of how much my brother and sister-in-law talk about race with them.  With my nephew about to head to college in a few months (don’t get me started on how much that fact freaks me out!), I am feeling the pull toward this topic more and more.  I don’t so much want to upset the apple cart of easy conversations, but I can feel myself moving closer and closer to that moment. 

It will happen when it happens.  Should be interesting.

__________
* This is a Zeno poem: 10 lines, syllables = 6/4/2/1/4/2/1/4/2/1, rhyme = a/b/c/d/e/f/d/g/h/d.