December 3: "Morning in a New Land," What's Nots, Socks

The last poem in Mary Oliver's Devotions:

Morning in a New Land

by:  Mary Oliver

In trees still dripping night some nameless birds

Woke, shook out their arrowy wings, and sang,

Slowly, like finches sifting through a dream.

The pink sun fell, like glass, into the fields,

Two chestnuts, and a dapple gray,

Their shoulders wet with light, their dark hair streaming,

Climbed the hill.  The last mist fell away,

And under the trees, beyond time's brittle drift,

I stood like Adam in his lonely garden

On that first morning, shaken out of sleep,

Rubbing his eyes, listening, parting the leaves,

Like tissue on some vast, incredible gift.

I suppose we should all treat a new day like this:  as some vast, incredible gift, full of nameless birds and pink sun and horses wet with light.  There's so much promise in the stretch and yawn of dawn.  Especially during the holidays, with all their focus on light and happiness and joy.

I'm not saying that every morning in December I wake up like a Who in Whoville.  I don't walk around like the Ghost of Christmas Present, sprinkling everyone I meet with the milk of human kindness.  As all of my faithful disciples know, I struggle like many people around this time of the year because I sometimes allow myself to focus on what's not as opposed to what is.

Here are my what's nots:

• My brother, Kevin
• My sister, Sally
• My father
• My mother
• My sister, Rose
• My great, great friend/second mother, Sally Z.
• My great, great friend, Helen
• Both of my kids under my roof

Certainly, this is an abridged list.  These are some of the big ones.

Here are my what is-es:

• My loving wife
• My two wonderful kids
• My health
• A cornucopia of great, great friends
• Jobs that fill me with joy (most of the time)
• Food in my refrigerator
• A roof over my head
• A brand new car
• Poetry
• Siblings I love
• Music that lifts my soul
• Reminders of loved ones I've lost (my sisters Sally and Rose loved everything about Christmas)
• Faith and hope that my Higher Power/the universe has my back

Again, this is an abridged list, but you will note that my what's nots list is quite a bit shorter than my what is-es list.  I really am a lucky guy.  I just forget to notice most days.  Sometimes, I don't notice for weeks or months.  I focus on the trees instead of the forest.

It has been a incredibly long weekend.  Insanely busy--a full day at the library on Saturday, hosting a Christmas tree celebration (that is exactly what it sounds like!); four different church services to play; an event called Tuba Christmas (and that is exactly what it sounds like, too!); and a podcast to edit.  At the end of weekends like this, my body lets me know it is tired.  I fell asleep on Saturday night at 7 p.m.  I didn't wake up until 6 a.m. the next day.  That's an eleven-hour nap.

And now, after I publish this post, I have to get ready for another long week.  Teaching and programs and my daughter's birthday.  I am literally scheduled for something each night, Monday through Thursday, this week, and Friday may be filled by tomorrow..

Yes, every day is a gift.  But some gifts are hand-me-down socks, and some are Godiva chocolates.

Saint Marty has been wearing a lot of used socks this weekend.