The Extraordinary Will Take Care of Itself
Of A Sunday.
It’s dumping rain in NYC today, but I don’t really mind. There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, as they say, and I finally bought myself a proper rain coat.
L, however, has grown out of her wellies by a long shot, so rather than brave the special breed of swampy puddles that collect on New York City street corners, we’re home and baking and doing chores (ie she mixed the muffin batter and now she’s watching cartoons while I do the chores).
Later, one of my very best friends is coming over for a cozy afternoon of Harry Potter and one-pot chicken. (Jess, you will always be my hero for the Dutch oven salmon recipe that has now also morphed into a chicken dish in our house.) Mine won’t be very traditional looking this week, but the ritual of a Sunday roast is so comforting, I think I’m going to make it a regular thing. Who wants to come over for dinner?
Words that stuck with me this week.
This is the kind of Sunday I desperately needed to bookend the week. Today is a simple kind of day; there is laundry in the wash and breakfast dishes drying in the sink and the cats are napping with the din of the TV in the background. The windows are open and the air is damp, but fresh. Today feels ordinary.
Not that I think there’s anything wrong with extraordinary, or that we should never make the effort to reach for something just a little bit more. But there is a time and a place and I think maybe the trick is to embrace the ordinary with the same fervor and wonder with which we tend to embrace the more-than-ordinary—“the extraordinary will take care of itself.”
But these words also resonated with me because to “make the ordinary come alive” is why I am here (writing) in the first place. Thank you for being here.
“Do not ask your children to strive”
by William Martin
Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
When pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.
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