there will always be...

(advice to myself)

There will always be bookwork and emails and all the other doldrum tasks. So burn some palo santo in your office to mingle with the fragrance of the brewing Bengal spice tea. The combined aromas are exquisite. Clean off your desk, dive in with a good pen and a Paul Simon album.

There will always be dishes to do, so crack a beer. And remember that time you played a show in Montana with the guys and the promoters didn’t trust the accuracy of the line in the contract that stated you wanted snacks and sandwiches and four beers and so they brought you snacks and sandwiches and 40 beers.

There will always be laundry to fold. And so pick it out one piece at a time and marvel at how small these clothes are. How at one time they were set aside as too big for his soft arms and thighs, but you already know how quickly they will be cast into the pile of giveaways and how one day, if life is kind, he will be taller than you and you will ask him to fold the laundry.

There will always be cold days. Brave the walk outdoors. Layer on a wool scarf that was given to you in 2008 by Xavier. A man who you met four years earlier in Victoria when you were new there and you worked with his boyfriend Mathew and the two of them were the first gay couple who took you in as a friend and you knew truly and completely that the things you heard in your small town were as cruel and ignorant as you always believed.

There will not always be diapers. There will not always be Grandma’s beet pickles. There will not always be phone calls from certain friends and family because life temporary, despite how we deny it. What seems ordinary is worth appreciating. A decent pen. A good morning kiss. A hot coffee. A snap shot of you and someone you love. A new song. Joy is everywhere if we are aware of it discovering us.

---

---