Member-only story
(It is here, right now)
Last night was the school end of year concert.
I’m biased, and I think we have a pretty good music program and pretty talented students. But I’m also honest, and I know that no one who isn’t a parent at that school is likely to agree with me.
These things are expected to be tedious. But there is still the buzz of children, excited to be doing something unusual and being together at a different time, with the rules and restrictions unclear. And after the younger ones, who are always on first, had done their piece they went out to the back of the hall and began chasing each other about. I think it was watching them there that I had one of those moments where I briefly stopped thinking about work that needs doing, or planning for what I want the future to look like.
I wasn’t thinking about that person who got the better of me and made my life more difficult, or imagining getting back at them, or thinking about how weak/small/stupid I am for being bested by them. I wasn’t lost in the mindlessness of watching some Netflix style entertainment either.
I was watching instead that moment of life right in front of me and around me, a step back from the busy mind and therefore able to appreciate that this was what life actually is, happening right here and now. No one but me gets…
