I HAVE A NEIGHBOR, and she has been my neighbor as long as i've lived in my apartment complex- about 4 years now. She is an older woman, completely normal and grey in the sense thta she physically calls absolutely no attention, yet to me she is elusive and mysterious.
In the spring you see her in the early early morning- she drinks a cup of tea/coffee and often has her camera in hand; she snaps pictures of the sunrise, the sunset. She sometimes takes her dinners outside if the weather is nice,
In the summer she really becomes an enigma- she is out for hours in the late afternoon. She tends to her flowers and mini garden that is set up on her balcony. She sometimes builds boxes for them. I hear her sawing and nailing away. She likes to drink what i think is red wine at dusk and take pictures; of her plants and flowers,of the sunset, of people too I assume. She makes me wonder if she has an indoor botanic garden of sorts- she never has her lights on in the evening, so i've never been able to tell.
Come fall and winter she appears less often. I use to only see her outside when she walked her dog, but since he passed away i now only see her on her balcony. Sometimes you see her during these cold days with a steaming cup of enigmatic brew, camera in hand. She takes pictures of the trees and of the icicles that hang around her patio, of fluffed up little birds- of a great many things.
I wonder a great many things about this woman. What is her name? what does she do? I wonder if she has loved ones, as i have never seen a guest on her balcony. I wonder if she has anyone to come home to. I wonder what she likes to do other than tend to flowers and plants, and snap pictures of lovely little creatures. I wonder if she loves; and i wonder if she loves passionately, and i imagine that she does.
I imagine she loves so passionately because she lives so passionately within her own little world- and she seems to love it intensely. she appears to savour each moment shes on her balcony, she doesnt take a sunrise or sunset for granted; ive seen her face as she takes it in; she gulps it down and lets it warm her.
She has taught me a very valuable lesson- that it doesnt matter where we find ourselves in our journey across life, but it's how we choose to savor as we walk through it. She has made her situation in life something lovely, bohemian, sensual. She savors her moments regardless of what is whirling around in the chaos of the cotidian.
I now make a concous effort to savor the cotidian, the mundane. I attempt to make it poetic and sensual. Have i been able to pull this off with the same amount of finesse and pleasure that she appears to do so? Not a chance, but I plan on working towards that.
Have a lovely day! You have the power to make it so !
Much love,
Celina
