Is it sappy to say, "I love you"??

Though I’m writing this on the last evening of August, you’ll be reading this on the first day of September, dear reader, or sometime thereafter. Never again will this exact moment—this 31st day of August in the 23rd year after 2000 years since we started counting the years in this way—come around. And it’s this caliber of awareness of time and of its fleeting nature—this degree of abundant attention to the present moment, that made me able to pull myself up by my bootstraps today. And really, I was the humble recipient of miracles today, like I am most days, if I can only remember always to carry my magnifying glass, for sometimes the miracles appear very small, indeed, though that does not mean they were not there.

For even in what begins as an ordinary conversation, a miracle can blossom.

And when I was editing the post that was published this morning, about being a woman who goes through her cycles, I was so angry! And when I was driving to work, I was so angry!! And when I was pulling into the parking garage downtown, I wanted to pound on the steering wheel and cry, so heartsick was I! About life! About everything…Such is the magnitude of what happens to the female body and brain when the tides make their shift.

And then there’s those damn Reels that I’m trying to stay on top of to advertise my poetry book. I was knee deep in edits when my lovely coworker came in, a long-winded customer hot on her heels. I looked at my friend imploringly and she shooed me away to finish what I was doing in peace and quiet, and THAT seemingly small act of kindness did EVERYTHING to turn my mood around.

You see? A miracle!

Tomorrow is Shabbat. Another very dear friend and person in my life pulled that fact out of her hat today while I was feeling down about something or other, knowing that it would perk me up and remind me of all the best things that we humans get to celebrate and experience in this sometimes very cumbersome, very confusing life; the Day of perfect Rest.

And since I have somewhat failed myself and am sitting at my writing desk when I really should be in bed, it’s difficult to wrangle my mind and to capture a string of thoughts, or even to make very good sentences in succession. Sleep is tapping me on the shoulder, and even typing that sentence made me yawn. And though I can tell I’m not yet out of the emotional cluster f*ck woods, I just want you to know how grateful I am to you, dear reader, for pulling up a chair with me 5 days a week, if that’s not too sappy.

Or f*ck it if it is. (It seems I curse now, by the way.)

Happy weekend, my friends. And Shabbat Shalom!