"Look. Look Under Here..."

My Temporary Computer Stand

Being the visual learner I am,  I like stories.  Stories with pictures created by words.  There's a child in me, who still needs to be told fairy tales once in awhile, in order to make sense of the world.

This morning, I woke up sad, after having a long, recurring dream. After I sat down with a cup of hot coffee, my mind settled on a picture from a story.  This story was told by a young teacher, to help a little girl cope with all the misfortune she had in her short life.  I heard it in a Korean movie I watched, a few days ago, called "The Crescent Moon."

In the movie, the teacher took the child for a walk through a field of tall, green grass.  The little girl struggled, the wet grass pulling at her little legs as she followed her teacher. When they stopped by a small stream, the teacher said to the girl, "See this heavy rock? I can hardly move it.  But, look.  Look under here."

The teacher held the rock up for the little girl to see what was under it.  "Do you see the small, light green, shoots of grass?  They want to live.  They live under this heavy rock.  They struggle every moment to live.  Life is important to them."

She let the rock settle back down, took the little child by the hand and sat with her by the small stream. "Life is like the rock," she continued.  "It is heavy.  It weighs on us.  We mustn't give up.  We will always struggle to see the sunlight.  We will carry the weight and learn to grow and live."

This story helped me savor the flavor of my coffee, as I sit here and share it with you.    And as l shut down my computer, after I post this on my blog, I will still have a smile of gratitude on my face.  For this life.

POSTSCRIPT:
After I finished this blog post, I rushed to eat, shower, dress and get ready for a date I had today, in Ithaca. (So I thought)  I also thought it was Thursday, the 21st.

My first clue came to me when I checked the weather in Ithaca on Weather.com.  It said, "First Day of Spring." I thought, "Mmmmm, wasn't it yesterday?"

My second clue came when I walked outside to go to my car and I saw a garbage bag on the corner.  Collection days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  "Mmmm, I suppose someone forgot what day it was."  When I turned the corner, I saw other bags on other corners!  Still, it didn't register it wasn't Thursday!

My third clue came when I got into my car, started it up and decided to check my phone for the time.  I was running a little late and didn't want Aunt Carol to wonder if I was coming or not.  The screen had a big "Wed" in the corner of the screen.

I laughed about all of this as I locked my car and came back into my apartment.  Funny how I'd just written about life.  It's what we have.

What A Wonderful World-G. Weiss and B. Thiele

I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you, and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

I see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people goin' by, I see friends shakin' hands, sayin', "How do you do!" they're really sayin',  "I love you."

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow.  They'll learn much more than I'll ever know and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."  Yes, I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."