Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family household, with this week being one particularly piled high with pockets of delight. And really, any week that begins with the crocuses peeping up out of the ground, and ends up with the crocuses in full bloom -- well, that's gotta be a good week, right?
I've had a particularly active week, giving talks (to mathematicians, of course, but also to music educators because . . . um, because they asked me?), and driving students to math talks, and attending talks about protest art, and hosting a Zero Waste meeting. At the Zero Waste group, we talked about the role that gratitude and generosity have in a low-trash kind of a lifestyle, and we read a particularly poignant essay on gratitude. And I really do have a lot to be grateful for; it's so good to remember that publicly.
My husband continues to zip around the world, while simultaneously filling in gaps in my geography knowledge. (My gaps are vast, by the way). He started the week in Jerusalem, and from there went to Ramallah. I had to ask where that is, and he said: good question. It's either Israel or the occupied territories, depending on who is answering. His T-mobile plan usually announces the name of any new country he enters; he said that when he went to Ramallah, his phone chirped, "Welcome to Abroad." Way to be neutral on a controversial topic!
He is currently in Tbilisi -- I had to ask where that is, too: Georgia. That's less controversial, although that country has a past that includes Russian and Persian rule. But apparently, Tbilisi has wonderful hills for bicycling up and down on, so what was first intended to be a brief stopover for my husband has turned into a city where he'll stay for a while, zooming up and down the ridges that rise from the Mt'k'vari River, and wrecking his knees but good. That's the life, man.
K-daughter and her clan have likewise had an exciting week: they paid off her student loan debt, bought a house (going into a new kind of debt), and then moved! I haven't seen the new place yet; I just exchanged lots of text messages full of exclamation points.
More text messaging happened with me and I-daughter, and then I got an in-person visit from I-daughter for no particular reason, just because. It's been sooooooo long since I visited with someone "just because". I think I have to put that on my to-do list, because it was a lovely thing to just hang around and chat and watch videos of N-son and L-daughter doing the oh Nanana challenge.
Speaking of N-son, he's still having fun down at L-daughter's house. I got to chat with him today to tell him about shelves I'd bought for his apartment up here. By a happy coincidence their godfather, who used to live here in the city where both of them grew up, became a pastor and moved down to Virginia to the very city where L-daughter lives now. N-son said that at church today, Stanley preached a sermon that really spoke to him on locating joy: do we find it in ourselves? Do we share it with others?
And that brings us back to where we started. Maybe we locate joy in crocuses, or in bicycles, or math talks, or owning houses, or just-because visits, or dancing . . . but maybe it's just even more joyful to be surrounded by such a wonderful reminders that this world is full of treasure beyond treasure. And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures. May you and yours be similarly prosperous.
I've had a particularly active week, giving talks (to mathematicians, of course, but also to music educators because . . . um, because they asked me?), and driving students to math talks, and attending talks about protest art, and hosting a Zero Waste meeting. At the Zero Waste group, we talked about the role that gratitude and generosity have in a low-trash kind of a lifestyle, and we read a particularly poignant essay on gratitude. And I really do have a lot to be grateful for; it's so good to remember that publicly.
My husband continues to zip around the world, while simultaneously filling in gaps in my geography knowledge. (My gaps are vast, by the way). He started the week in Jerusalem, and from there went to Ramallah. I had to ask where that is, and he said: good question. It's either Israel or the occupied territories, depending on who is answering. His T-mobile plan usually announces the name of any new country he enters; he said that when he went to Ramallah, his phone chirped, "Welcome to Abroad." Way to be neutral on a controversial topic!
He is currently in Tbilisi -- I had to ask where that is, too: Georgia. That's less controversial, although that country has a past that includes Russian and Persian rule. But apparently, Tbilisi has wonderful hills for bicycling up and down on, so what was first intended to be a brief stopover for my husband has turned into a city where he'll stay for a while, zooming up and down the ridges that rise from the Mt'k'vari River, and wrecking his knees but good. That's the life, man.
K-daughter and her clan have likewise had an exciting week: they paid off her student loan debt, bought a house (going into a new kind of debt), and then moved! I haven't seen the new place yet; I just exchanged lots of text messages full of exclamation points.
Speaking of N-son, he's still having fun down at L-daughter's house. I got to chat with him today to tell him about shelves I'd bought for his apartment up here. By a happy coincidence their godfather, who used to live here in the city where both of them grew up, became a pastor and moved down to Virginia to the very city where L-daughter lives now. N-son said that at church today, Stanley preached a sermon that really spoke to him on locating joy: do we find it in ourselves? Do we share it with others?
And that brings us back to where we started. Maybe we locate joy in crocuses, or in bicycles, or math talks, or owning houses, or just-because visits, or dancing . . . but maybe it's just even more joyful to be surrounded by such a wonderful reminders that this world is full of treasure beyond treasure. And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures. May you and yours be similarly prosperous.
No comments:
Post a Comment