The Extraordinary Ordinary

“. . . I’ve come to honor a deeply held assertion

that ordinary everyday life is, in truth, extraordinary.”

- from The Book of Calm -

I came across Pat Schneider’s poem The Patience of Ordinary Things the other day and it moved me to tears and appreciation for the last six months—days and weeks of immersion into an unscheduled, come-what-may experience full of the extraordinary ordinary, and the time to reflect on the specific beauty of every day.

I share her poem with you here as my end-of-year blessing, with gratitude for your continued readership, and wishes for a bright New Year.

It is a kind of love, is it not?

How the cup holds the tea,

How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,

How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes

Or toes. How soles of feet know

Where they’re supposed to be.

I’ve been thinking about the patience

Of ordinary things, how clothes

Wait respectfully in closets

And soap dries quietly in the dish,

And towels drink the wet

From the skin of the back.

And the lovely repetition of stairs.

And what is more generous than a window?

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •