• Tag Archives feelings
  • Contentment? Really?

    And, once again, Sunny, Blue, Clear, Gentle Breezes.

    “The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of.” – Blaise Pascal

    A strange feeling crept up on me this morning.  Contentment.  This is not a feeling with which I have much acquaintance, so when he comes along, it is notable.  The Pascal quote is perfect here.  Reason still finds ambitions or reasons for ambitions, reason still finds competition or reasons for competition, reason finds problems to solve or reason to solve problems, but the heart, my heart, my Valentine heart says, enough.  Enough.  And, good enough.

    In that spirit I spent two hours this morning wandering around, sitting down for a while and writing poetry, then over to a sunglass shop to buy a case for my sunglasses to replace the one lost in transit.  Strolling away from Whaler’s Village, I headed toward the surfers portion of Ka’anapali to watch.

    Several years ago Kate and I were in Mexico City in September.  I went to the bullfight.  It was an odd experience, but the thing I want to draw attention to here is that September is when the novice bull-fighters try to prove their skill so they can move up in the ranks, to the better fights later in the season.   Watching the surfers here, on the west side of Maui, means watching the novice surfers trying to catch waves, stay on their boards, ready themselves for the 15-20 foot waves now crashing against the northern shore.

    One young woman, on a blue surfboard with a white strip near the tip, tried, then tried again, and once again mounted a wave, only, each time, to have the board flop out from underneath her.  I came to admire her tenacity.  No sulking.  No quitting.  She’ll make it someday soon, I’m sure.

    Now I’m back in the hotel, during what would be nap time at home and feeling just a wee bit tired.  Hope I’m not getting sick.  That would be a bummer.