Sometimes I practice just sitting quietly at the desk.  I have gotten pretty good at it.  The phone inevitably rings at the wrong time, wrong person, wrong problem....  I go back to just sitting.  I have gotten pretty good at it.

The other morning was cool outside.  I got off the bus about a mile from work and walked through the historically impoverished neighborhood in Shreveport.  I enjoyed the quiet of the morning and the golden sunlight mixed with the green vines and flowers along the sidewalks and cobblestone streets which have been paved over but still show brick colored stones like heavy chocolate colored breasts beneath my slow and determined footfalls.  The sycamore trees have been dropping pollen like wild fire.  Feral cats hunt between the dandelions.

Now I am sitting, remembering all the things from the morning and not being able to recall the multitude of separate story lines that ran through my head while driving the old van with James. Just dance.  Just clean your bowl.  Just "git er done."  For Thursday maybe this is enough.  Maybe I don't have to save the entire city today, maybe just sitting here quietly is enough to get me through just one more day.  And then there will be tomorrow.