#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Sunset Meadow Walk
Overcoming resistance, a theme for today. I planned to swim, decided on a long walk with Charlie instead. But got a call from my daughter at the start, and she wondered if I could take Wave for her to run a necessary errand. I had set aside the morning for writing. But it’s a lovely summer day and time outdoors with my grandson in July is limited. I said yes. Cut short my walk. Took him to Farm Pond. We shared the joy of catching our first glimpse of refreshment from the top of the hill on the path to the beach. For a long time we were the only swimmers, which shocked me. July mornings were for swimming lessons here, year after year of my childhood. They haven’t run them since Covid. Are they gone for good? Never mind. It was peaceful and we played happily in the cool water. Ended up staying there for over three hours until my daughters came, and then I went home. It turns out it wasn’t impossible to draft a poem. Once I sat down, determined to open my notes from yesterday, and try. And keep trying. I worked at it for the same amount of time I spent with Wave on the beach, and I had a draft. I needed that. And even though the voice of doubt that it works whispered as I did some housework, I just let myself be grateful I could draft a poem. Then we all had a plan to go to Bellforge Arts Center two minutes up the road at the Old Medfield State hospital to hear an outdoor concert. But Wave didn’t want to go and we were running late and we couldn’t seem to get organized and there seemed to be a general giving up on the idea, but suddenly we were in the car and driving to the concert. Which was lovely, kids and dogs and barbecue and folk music and the cloud-covered sky in shades of blue and gray and the hot air of summer making us sticky with pleasure and relaxation. My daughter and I walked home at sunset, down Hospital Road, cutting through the grassy meadow, over the trestle bridge crossing the river Charles to home, happy and filled to the brim with summer pleasure.
