Early Morning Contentment

Last night I went with my daughter and one of her friends to the local picnic. It is in reality a carnival with rides, concession stands, and local music and dancing. But the locals are modest, so they just call it  a picnic. It's a picnic that lasts three days and comes alive at night.

When my daughter was little -- and she was two when we moved here -- she clung to my hand and needed me to accompany her on all the rides. But now she is twelve going on thirteen, and she has friends to go on all the rides with, and so I let the girls go their own way, and I sat in the stands and listened to the country music, and watched the couples dance. Many of them were elderly, but it did not keep them from dancing and showing affection in public. There were also threesomes on the dance floor sometimes, two women with a man, usually. And there were grandmothers dancing with grandchildren and fathers holding their small children in their arms while they danced.

It was nice watching the humans celebrate their lives and their community and their connectedness. Most of it was not in the words. It was in the smiles and the gestures.

We stayed quite late, and as usual I got up early and had breakfast with Bow, while Sword slept. I was listening to Lea Salonga sing "I Dreamed a Dream" on Youtube after breakfast, and I invited Bow to dance with me. But he took my hand and spelled: "That is not a good song." Then he asked to go outside.

So we went outside and the birds were chirping, and the sun was shining, and all was right with the world. Contentment and a feeling of community can come in many ways. Bow was happy, and so was I.