The beauty of Connecticut fall catches my breath. The firestorm on the the tree beneath my bedroom makes me smile. So does the quiet hope that wells up in my soul.
For every exasperated sigh I swallow in my carrel and long hour with an un-exhilarating paper are a dozen moments of sweet smiles. Ideas excite me. Despite the realization that most people don’t care, I am incapable of saying anything about my research without getting all bright eyed and smily.
And when the brillant professor I fumble my ideas to says that my argument sounds great, the fire burns brighter. Likewise, I gladly give my time to the teaching that forces my thoughts deep into the recluses of my mind for reevaluation. Ideas are like that.
In the last 72 hours, a friend and I hosted a make-your-own gourmet personal pizza night, complete with fancy cheese, fresh sausage, jalepenos, and eight of my closest-don’t-talk-to-often-enough friends. Saturday, I drove to Providence for an ISI conference on the American University. I’ve never wanted to read Plato so badly in my life. I figure something like The Republic or The Odyssey ought to count as an appropriate beginning of the Western Cannon : )
Today was simply beautiful, and a few friends and I will be driving up the Connecticut coastline in the morning as we run away with every last remaining precious bit of fall break.
This overcast night hides the moon from my bedroom window, but with a monstrously soft brown blanket draped over my shoulders and the quiet beat of my fingers, keeping time with the Bublé in the background, I just can’t help but feel at peace as the dreams and reflections that can’t quite make their way out dance on my heart.