0023 Thanksgiving

‘Thanks for yesterday evening – I really enjoyed myself…’ What a profound statement, is that hackneyed phrase! ‘Just an impromptu dinner party’, they invited. A modest house that shines with their mutual and family love – his craftsmanship in every detail, her sense of beauty at every point, like the vased flowers which seemed to be growing out of a spring of love, openly rejoicing that they were giving their life to us in the name of love; calling to us to be here, and now, to enjoy every moment with them.. the perfectly served simple meal; and the company, the guests: the very recently bereaved who was the unspoken focus of all our attentive care; the teacher, always smiling and alert, so that we feel we know him well– yet really know so little; the man whose career has always seemed a series of ineffectual starts, who in one more disastrous trough bought a laptop, found himself as a children’s writer; now there’s just no stopping him; and the others; and over all, a light, a warmth, a steady conversation which never mentioned love, yet was rich with it… and life, a sheer delight; so that I enjoyed the self in myself, knew myself more in that; so thanks for yesterday evening; I really enjoyed myself.