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Finding Joy in the Random and Mundane
Today my writing is brought to you by the Summer Solstice and the thoughts that the day has sparked in me. For those of you that know me, I occasionally do things in a bit of a roundabout way. The sheer thought of getting up for a sunrise ritual makes me shudder. To me, on one hand, it would be absolutely wonderful to be able to see a sunrise. Unfortunately, I don't see many of them until closer to Yule when the sunrise is closer to the school run. My natural body clock is set for late evenings and nights and I have to fight to sleep in a time frame that is normal for today's society. You would have thought that when I moved over from Indiana that would have changed, but no, it j ust shifted along with the time zones. Sigh. I did wake up earlier than normal. Forty five minutes before the alarm that I normally spend an hour hitting the snooze on. That's progress, in my book. I figured that I would take advantage of Neal and Sophie still being flat out to spend a bit of quiet time. I opened the downstairs curtains to a dull and grey day, but, you know what? I still could feel the amazing energy of the day filtering through those clouds that made me thank the Gods and Goddesses for the life that they have blessed me with. Add in that the virtually silent of my two cats, Florence, mouse-squeaked at me in greeting...well, that's a lovely start to a day. I then had a surge of pride as Sophie skipped happily to school and said “Happy Summer Solstice!” to the first schoolmates that she encountered. She definitely made up for the lack of visible sun. Now normally after the school run I go home, potter around with some chores, then spend the rest of my day trying to catch up on projects. Today, I felt the desperate need to go out for a bit. I kept it simple...bus out to Asda for a bit of a wander. When I went to leave, the bus sitting there wasn't one that I thought even came in to North Hykeham. Normally, I would take the 27 straight back towards the city centre (I live on Newark Road, not too far from Lincoln City Centre), but the 14 was there, which is the Waddington bus. I checked with the driver and he quite cheerfully said that he just takes the scenic route back to town. I wasn't in a rush, so thought I would try out a different route, out of curiosity. It's one of the quieter routes in the city, so there was just a couple of old ladies and I sat towards the front and stretched a leg across other seats to get comfortable. Pop my headphones back on, full blast to shut out the world. This is one of my favourite things to do. It's probably not the best thing to have the headphones on full blast, but my hearing is packing it in anyway, I might as well enjoy it. It is one of my odd meditation techniques because I can focus better on what is going on in my head without the distraction of everything else. I wasn't listening to anything that would be classed as Pagan or Meditation...just the general pop music that is on my cloud player. A fair bit of energy and trying to not sing along in public (I have done this more than once..people look at me funny). The driver wasn't wrong when he said it would be the scenic route. I had the pleasure to be chauffeured through the back end of South Hykeham...past lovely green and yellow fields edged with what I think is wild parsley. At least, over here everybody has said that it's wild parsley. To me, it looks similar to what we called Queen Anne's Lace in Indiana. I think it's still very pretty. Add in the water rolling in little becks through the fields, edged with wood with the occasional quaint little bridge. Well, that sorts out the elements of what is actually my solstice ritual. People would probably say that this can't be a ritual...you must have all sorts of tools, cast a circle, say all sorts of words. Guess what? Riding the bus through the edges of the city, and even enjoying the colours and blooms in people's gardens as you pass by, taking the time to contemplate your joys and what you have been gifted in this world is just another way of setting aside the time to do that. I am learning to drive, nowadays, so I can get around to more places. Even when I have my driver's license, I still plan on taking the bus and train to places. On top of it being a bit more environmentally friendly to use public transportation, it usually works out cheaper if I'm going into town by myself because of the cost of parking and petrol. But it also gives me a chance to take just a little bit of time out of a day to contemplate and just chill out. For those that drive, you don't have to concentrate on what you are doing or where you are going. I even had a giggle when my music was interrupted by an email from Trans Pennine saying that I have 'Two