Face in your phone

Today I saw a young woman walking her Boxer puppy. The little guy was jumping in excitement, looking up at his human mom, wanting to play and run, wanting her attention, but the young woman was too involved in whatever was going on in her iPhone and she just ignored her happy little puppy. I know I'm an older person and maybe I'm just out-of-it, but I don't understand this obsession with carrying a phone wherever you go and becoming a slave to its whatever-is-so-interesting minutiae that you have to stare at it at all costs while your puppy is trying to get your attention because he's so happy to be outside on a walk with his human mom. This young woman missed a wonderful moment she could have had with her puppy. 

I know we all do things like that when we're so engrossed in whatever is going on in our lives that we miss the happy moments with our pets, our children, our friends and family, nature, and just the very fact that we are alive and breathing. I try to remember that because who knows what may happen tomorrow. Your dog could die suddenly like my Sully did. I think of all the missed opportunities I could have had with him, the things I planned to do with him, because I thought I had many more years with him. Now I try to live in the now.

It's not always easy because the challenges and trivia of living as a human in this world are often overwhelming and immediate, but I try my best. When I am home, I concentrate on watching and being with my cats, enjoying their eccentricities, their peacefulness, their feistiness, the way they move and sleep, their sweet earthy scent. I listen to the birds (especially my favorites, the cardinals) in the backyard, watch the squirrels sprinting from grass to tree, marvel at the diverse shapes and colors of the clouds, revel in the sometimes absolute stillness and quietness of my neighborhood, breathe in the luscious aroma of the night-blooming jasmine climbing a handmade gazebo just beyond my back door. My newest project in the now is to pay attention to myself -- my body, my mind, my dreams -- which I mostly don't do for some reason. So, here's to me without a phone in my face. Here's to the world around me that I will breathe in every day until every cell of my body is alive and vibrant. 

And now we'll see if I can bring all exuberance tomorrow morning for my job interview with a panel of questioners. Oh yeah.