Remembering to Appreciate the Dolphins and the Daffodils

I began my day yesterday by writing this post about seeing dolphins in the Intracoastal.  Then I spent the rest of the day trying to remember this vision:

It wasn't a bad day, all things considered.  It was more like a low energy day, a day when I took my sister and nephew to the plane in the morning, so a day tinged with both sadness (they're gone, boo hoo) and happiness (we had a good time together).

It was a day where I had time to read a friend's manuscript--what a treat!  But I had time to read it because I staffed the lobby table, where I asked students if they had registered for Spring classes.  For 3 hours, I sat there, asking that question while during the slow times of no student traffic, I read the manuscript about Louisa May Alcott and the Civil War and a woman who disguises herself as a man to go fight.  It's a manuscript that reminds me that life could be worse; indeed, my life is so very easy.

My afternoon involved a trip to the Psychology of Personal Effectiveness class that's part Psych class, part College 101.  When one of our deans lost his job, I took over his presentation on Fs vs. Ws, incremental completion rates, transfer credit, and what to do when faced with tough academic decisions.  It sounds grim, but I manage to present the material with some humor ("You've fallen madly in love and your beloved has a chance to go work with the political campaign of you fill in that blank and you want to go with your beloved.  What do you do?"  I encourage them to finish the quarter because love can wait--of course, I'm old and have ice water in my veins, so they might decide differently, so let's talk about options).

I finished the work day by being the stern administrator who has to talk to plagiarists.  I went home feeling so tired.

Luckily, I have the kind of life where I can go to bed early when I'm tired. 

I slept well, and I'm ready for whatever the day brings.  Some of it will be the same as yesterday, with another section of Psych of Personal Effectiveness to visit.  Some will be different:  I'm going to create an extra credit paper assignment for my online Humanities class which has been a delight in ways I did not dare to hope.

Along the way, I'll remember to be on the lookout for all the delights the universe sends us, all the glimpses that I often see out of the corner of my eye, like this daffodil at Mepkin Abbey, the first daffodil and for now, the only one, although there's evidence of more to come.

I'll try to remember to slow down and appreciate it all.