Today is a lovely fall day. The sun is staying around. It was missing most of the week hidden by rain and clouds. Everything is glinting in the light, especially the leaves dangling from the lower branches. The sky is a light blue. The breeze is every now and then. It is 57°, the high for the day. The weekend will be a pretty one.

My dance card still has two events, today and tomorrow. I didn’t post yesterday because of the concert and may not post tomorrow for the same reason. I have to be in Hyannis at eleven thirty. This has been the busiest week I can remember in a long time. I’m tired.

When I was a kid, life was easy. During the week was school. Every day was the same. When my mother woke me up, she already had breakfast ready. The menu mostly depended on the weather, but I could count on my cup of cocoa and my brother’s tea, served in a pot. Sometimes we had eggs with toast while on cold days we often had oatmeal. My mother did her best to beat down the oatmeal lumps, but a few sneaked through. I didn’t care. I never ate naked oatmeal. Mine was always drowning in milk and covered in sugar. Once in a while I’d add cinnamon. After breakfast it was time to get dressed. I didn’t have to choose my clothes. I wore my uniform, but I did get to pick my socks. Sometimes I wore short socks, but in the cold I often wore knee socks. My friend and I walked to school together, the same way every day. I loved that walk. The straightaway was on a sidewalk with branches overhead. The sunlight was here and there. We’d sometimes jump from spot to spot. We’d cross the street, and school was right there. We’d wait in the schoolyard for the bell.

I was a dreamer. I didn’t plan day to day, but I did plan for when I was older. I knew I’d go to college, the first to go in my extended family. I knew I’d see the world. No one in my family traveled far, but I knew I would. I never doubted that my dreams would come true.

After Ghana, the first trip I made was to Europe. I went to Finland then on to Russia. I’ll never forget that trip. I ate reindeer in the Arctic Circle when it was midnight sun time. I took a train from Helsinki to Leningrad. Only three of us were on the through car. It got dis-attached from the Finnish train and added to the Russian train. One uniformed train person stayed in the car. She gave us tea, lots of tea served in clear glass cups.

I always think myself lucky. My life has been interesting. It has been all I dreamed it would be.

This entry was posted on October 18, 2025 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.