How Sweet It Is

I’m not big on bumper sticker clichés, but this one I feel deeply: “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”

Why? Because literally for the first time in three long and difficult weeks, I feel wholly myself again. I can speak, I can sing, my throat stops catching when I breathe and I am not coughing. Perhaps a coincidence that I just took my last antibiotic pill, but no matter why. Just the simple fact of feeling something called “normal” is enough for me to host a one-man party of “Yee-haw!!!” Teaching was so much more pleasurable, I’m more connected in conversations, I can walk through the world and see more deeply, hear more clearly, taste more delightfully the sheer gift of being alive. I soldiered through my sickness the best I could, did my best to add too much self-pity to the mix and convinced myself that I could teach as well sick as healthy. But how much better this feels!

Gratitude to all the healing forces that gathered, even if you seemed to take your sweet time doing it! Thanks for the concern from friends and family and appreciation to the workshop participants who supported me and could see past the cough and cracked voice to the deep point of the lessons.

So today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life and I hope I’m not asking too much for it to be filled with the blessing of good health. For my part, I will use that energy as best I can to continue the work of helping to heal a sick planet. And do my best to remember the deep blessing of simply being alive. As Jackie Gleason used to say, “How sweet it is!”