Now

One of the best parts of my birthday last week was visiting Trolley Barn Park, also known as Baba Two Swing (Baba=playground; Two Swing=the two operable baby swings, as opposed to Balboa Park/Baba One Swing, where for an entire year there was just one in operation).

At Baba Two Swing, we swung and played hide and seek. And then we laid on the grass in the long shade of a big tree and watched the clouds. This is something I did a lot as a kid, but not so much anymore.

We laid like that for a long time. The clouds seemed frozen.

The grass was cool, the breeze was warm. Tony and I put our heads together; Natalie rested hers on my belly. ("The grass itches me, Mama.")

And for a moment I had a fleeting, euphoric feeling of being totally clear and unencumbered by all that clutter and noise that surrounds nearly every action and thought and follows me to bed at night.

But soon it was time to go. It was getting late, and we were hungry. I wanted to stay there forever.

"Come, Mama."
I thought: so this is what I was reading about in this book, currently collecting dust on my night table.

I keep meaning to return to the book. I think it could change my life! But then I think: I will do it later, which is not a very good grasping of the power of now.

Not anymore. I am doing it now! Or, tonight after I put Natalie to bed. And watch "How I Met Your Mother," which we recorded last night and is supposed to have a very funny musical number. Also need to gather up some financial documents to load the details into mint.com, and make flash cards for Natalie's new vocabulary words...