I start most of my mornings moving straight from my bed, groggy and unwashed, to the living room. I love this room. It is light and airy and best of all has a beautiful view. Opening the extra wide sliding glass doors to the Treehouse 🌲, I begin my day.
It’s not really a Treehouse 🌲. It’s a large balcony, big enough to accommodate a table with four chairs, a comfy chaise lounge, lamp table, grill and planters filled in season with colorful flowers and herbs. It overlooks a walking trail, field (full of wildflowers this time of year), a heavily treed area with old oaks and birch, and a stream. It is a haven for all kinds of animals
No matter what the weather is like, there is always birdsong and early birds at the feeders. Squirrels play tag and steal birdseed. The geese honk their morning song. Sometimes deer or wild turkeys are eating grass in the field.
This morning it is gray and humid. A heavy rain last night puddles the trail. My flowers are draped in raindrops and dew. Emerald green colors the landscape and the puddles reflect the morning light.
There is a heaviness in the air and a few bees and butterflies drift lazily in the flower pots.
It is not the perfect early Summer morning of magazine covers.
But with age and illness has come a certain wisdom. Life is not just about sunshine and cool breezes. I should not expect that. But there is satisfaction in simply having another day. And beauty to be found in simply being alive.
Carole Leskin is a retired Director of Global Human Resources. Embarking on a second career as a writer and photographer concentrating on her personal accounts of aging, her essays and poetry, frequently accompanied by her photos, are published in Jewish Sacred Aging, Jewish Women of Words, Starts At 60, Navigating Aging ( a Kaiser Health publication), Women’s Older Wisdom, Time Goes By and Next Avenue. Her poems, “Father Time” and “Carole’s Debate” were selected for inclusion in the 2019 anthologies of poetry, New Jersey Bards. Her photos have been featured in Mart R Porter Nature Forum.
Wonderful post. ThAnks for sharing.
Thank you Ellie ❤️