Hallelujah
Day what is this?? I don’t know, 37? 42? 88? and the lockdown is still informing our everyday life. Every Single Day.
Today, in my morning meditation I heard “ Life is amazing and then it is awful and then it’s amazing again, and in between the amazing and the awful, it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just life…breathtakingly beautiful. “
Today looked to be a routine day, though with Blossum, I’ve learned nothing is mundane.
On this morning’s constitutional, we forged our usual path around the enormous perimeter of the school, then Blossie ventured into the center field, galloping with her usual enthusiasm and abandon, ears flapping every which way. Blossie takes off running without a prompt except when she doesn’t. Occasionally I’ll throw a ball and she’ll run after it. Most of the time, after running in the direction of the ball, she’ll charge right past it, as though the ball’s motion was all she needed as a jump start. Sometimes, though, she’ll grab it in her mouth and dart away, circling the field like a runner on a victory lap, soaking in the audience adoration.
Ball in mouth, Blossie plopped down in the clover for a rest. Usually she’s up in 10 seconds, but this time she stayed put so I decided to get down next to her, needing a break myself. I stroked her soft fur as she stretched out languidly in the sun, rolling over on her back, tummy to the sky. A sense of awe crept over me and I glanced up and around…the view from our spot was magical. Big, billowy clouds in a vivid blue sky hovered over a forest of tall, dense evergreen trees surrounding us with their majesty. It was just luscious.
Before we claimed our seat here, I had Pandora on my phone. Usually when I’m walking around I like to listen to fast-paced rock and roll and my Petula Clark station didn’t disappoint. I just danced to The Archies’ “Sugar Sugar” for the 40th time this week. “Next” I said, finally granting myself permission to recognize that I was done with the Archies 20 times ago. I switched to Jackson Browne, a crush of mine in the 70’s in a very big way. “Late for the Sky” came on and though it’s softer than I was looking for, the familiarity of a song I really love was soothing so I hung with it.
As I sat with Blossie, wrestling the ball from her mouth, then tossing it back to her while she gazed at me, a goofy smile on her face, Rufus Wainwright came on singing “Halleluah.” This song,“Hallelujah,” is one of those I just have to sing, it’s so gorgeous and moving. As I listened, I could feel my body overflowing with joy and gratitude as the melody and lyrics washed over me. I indulgently serenaded Blossie with my very bestest voice, loving her with the depth of my soul. Shifting my gaze from princess girl to the sky, I glanced again at the vision of clouds and trees in the distance, the song’s sentiment becoming more and more meaningful in this moment, this time, this place and I had a profound feeling that, in spite of all kinds of evidence to the contrary, I had every reason in the world to speak Hallelujah!!!!
