Mixed Reactions

You haven’t heard from me for several days because I’ve been struggling with a few issues that took my attention.  I couldn’t possibly describe them without complaint.  Suffice it to say that I welcomed March.  February did not smile for me.

I took the long road to Isleton today, past the flowering olive trees and the workers walking the vineyards. I stopped for an egret crossing Jackson Slough by foot, too stunned to grope for my camera.  I stood for five long minutes on a dirt road watching cranes overhead, their last flight above the Delta, perhaps; headed south until fall.

At the post office, I fished a few pieces from the deep box.  With my practice closed and the Park building secure mailboxes, I should soon be able to cancel this service. I stand by my car, tapping the letter from the Missouri Supreme Court on the door frame. Once inside, I eased back the flap, and stared at the unheralded contents.

I’ve held a lot of statuses in my life.  Daughter, student, friend, wife, mother.  But the title which I’ve had since 1983 defines so much of what I am.  To see the small but important change reflected on my Missouri Bar card for 2019 both saddens and satisfies me.

The other day, someone asked me from where I come.  I hesitated.  Finally, I gave as honest an answer as I could short of saying “my mother’s womb”. I told him, I spent the first third of my life in St. Louis and, except for a few years in Arkansas, the second third in Kansas City. I intend to spend the last third in California.

He contemplated my answer for a few minutes, then said, “Cardinals or Royals?”  I answered without hesitation, “Yes.”

It’s the first day of the sixty-third month of My Year Without Complaining.  Life continues.

Rachel Platten, “Fight Song”

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