Weeknight Walks along 10th Street. [Repost from April 21, 2014]

Pretty litter forming molds around the parked vehicles. Jacaranda trees dropping their purple blossoms, the early bloomers started today. Smells of plumeria mixed with carne asada as I turn the corner to 8th street. Headed home. I pass by night blooming jasmine, rosemary, and delicious smelling speckled roses. I’m drinking deeply of my environment, in this space and time. The concerns of the day slowly, step after step drift away. I feel peace, calm. Acutely aware of the smells, the sounds, the sights. Not a passive, sleepy, calm. But an alert, awake, ALIVE. I reflect on my friend Jeff in Chicago, who is publishing his first book; a novel for teens. I think of how bravely he's sought after this gift, all these years. I think of how comical, fun and well spoken he is. What good words he uses and how artfully he puts them together. I feel proud to know him. I reflect on my friend Jeanette, who is smart and witty and a rapid responder. She’s devout and directed, smelling of a strong and beautiful scent—her shampoo fragrance even shares in that strength. Her spirit is honest, claims the truth. Her heart is genuine and beautifully postured. I reflect on my future years. Perhaps even in this very neighborhood. I would seriously consider purchasing this 1913 Craftsman bungalow, if it should ever go up for sale. Two years I’ve been here now. I love my neighbors, the things I’ve learned (the value of presence; just being with) and the skills I’ve honed like speaking Spanish and the art of reciprocity, hospitality and storytelling. I dream about the gardens I could plant here, the food I could cultivate. I dream about the reconciliation that could come forth. I reflect on that scripture in the bible that says “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29 I want to be rooted. I want to be well nourished, so I can nourish others well. I want to seek the peace and prosperity of my city--because its fate and my fate are intertwined. I reach my porch. I sit on the step for a few minutes. Breathing in and out. The sun has set. I’m wondering what will be; for my friends in faraway cities, for me, for this neighborhood, for Long Beach. And I feel at peace. I’m reminded whose I AM.