You know those little seed pods that fall from trees? The ones that spin like a helicopter propeller if you toss them in the air? Well I happened to be in the break room today washing my dishes from lunch when one of those propeller things caught my eye. It was quite unique in appearance, as one side of the pod had already grown old and brown while the opposite side remained as green and vibrant as ever it could be. It was as stark a sight as black on white, but what really caught my eye was that the pod had fallen from the tree and become lodged in a filter screen above the big AC unit outside.
The AC unit was running at the time and so vibrating all around it—including that seed pod. The stem of the pod is what had fallen through the screen, trapping the larger pod-end just above it, and, as the motor of the AC hummed, that pod danced around and around and around in a circle, flipping from green to brown to green and back again. Over and over and over this dance occurred. Sometimes it was resting all the way down on the screen, and sometimes the vibrations of the AC bounced the pod up into the air a bit, but always it danced around and around and around and I was mesmerized.
I don't know how long I spent standing there and watching this little show out the window, but I think I probably wasted a bit of water before I remembered to finish washing my dish. And all that while I stood there thinking about how beautiful a moment it was—and that life is just full of these small instances. Moments that are no grand spectacle at all, and yet they're moments that reassure us of the goodness and beauty of life. Of how precious each moment of our lives is. Of how unique a story each of us has to tell about the moments of our lives.
It was a small thing, to be sure. Wholly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. But beautiful, and intimate all the same.
I'm blessed to find moments like this in my life, and more blessed to have you to share them with.
I love you L.
.PtB
