Well, I made it to Pittsburgh! The first leg of my trip is done. Somerset and I were the first guests to arrive in town yesterday for my cousin Abby's wedding this Saturday. My aunt and uncle have the most perfect home in the world for hosting a wedding. Bees and Carlins have been hard at work keeping hundreds of annuals and perennials of every color and shape happily in bloom in the garden and around the tented tennis court, which hourly welcome a new group of wedding guests into the mix.
I would like to share with you one of my favorite memories of this beautiful place, a simple but enchanting experience I had the last time I was here. It was the summer of 2005, and the whole family was here for my grandmother’s funeral. My Grandma Brown was a great lover of nature, particularly songbirds. I spent the night after the funeral on Abby’s bedroom floor near an open window, a fitful insomniac struggling with thoughts of how best to honor her memory. Just before dawn, the sweetest coo of a whistle gently danced into my subconscious. Long, placid echos patiently resonated in lovely answer, softly building their genial good-morning until with peaceful awareness I wakened. I lay there completely content, but waiting for Abby to turn off her alarm – surely this could not be real! As you can guess, it was an ode to life wholly new to me, but one which I was sure had blessed my grandmother with the singular peaceful joy I felt for the first time on that morning.
So tonight I sleep with an open window, hoping in a few hours to be transported from sleep unto still consciousness by the same miracle as on that unforgettable dawn five years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment