Today I was feeling rather tense. I decided to take a short swim, and it turned out that it was just what I needed. The day was still hot, which I love, but it held a newfound kind of freshness, an ever so subtle hint of seasons changing. The water was warm and there were a few fallen leaves floating in it. It was a glorious time to swim. The water glimmered just so, it danced in darker hues cut through by undulations of light. I’ve always liked the patterns of pool water, the aqua blue spots, the bright silver lines cutting through. It’s a beautiful thing to look at, and it’s a beautiful thing to paint. But I’d never seen the rainbows before. There are tiny rainbows hidden in the corners of the ripples of light, right where they intersect. Betty would have surely seen that, because Betty has a talent for noticing things. I felt like the rainbows, or rather the ability to see them, were a gift from her.
Later, much later, I walked Holly through our neighborhood and we saw the night heron who lives in one of the trees. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, and now he was standing in the middle of the side walk. Such a beautiful, magical creature! I felt that this encounter, too, was a gift from Betty.
