Delightful
I rarely watch the news on television, but I do enjoy reading the newspaper each day to find out all the local, and worldly, goings-on. Reading the news with a cup of coffee, in the peace and quiet of our back deck, is a much more pleasant mode of delivery than having the news blabbed at me by one of the many talking heads on television.
Talking heads topped off with luxurious piles of hair, mouthfuls of shiny, perfect rows of teeth, all hovering above an impeccable ensemble of attire and accessories. One clone after another, blah, blah, blah, blah, look at me talk, blah, blah, blah. The local news isn’t quite so painful, the talking heads don’t take themselves as serious, but I have a difficult time enduring three weather reports in a thirty minute news cast.
I have a perfectly good window, or two, I can take a gander out to get an up-to-date weather report, or I can even step outside if I desire a more accurate climatic assessment. All of this without having to watch a meteorologist stammer and orchestrate little weather symbols around a green screen, and act as though they are in some way responsible for the weather conditions. “See that sunshine? I did that. That breeze? All me.”
The kids were always concerned about what the weather was going to be like when they were getting dressed for school in the morning. “Should I wear a short sleeve or long sleeve…shorts or pants…?” I would generally respond, “You are going to be in school, you’re not a longshoreman or a lumberjack, what’s it matter what you wear?” They would roll their eyes and Google the forecast. Hate to wind up stranded on the monkey bars wearing inadequate attire.
I do read the weather report in the newspaper though, actually I read everything in the newspaper, front-to-back…comics to classifieds. Occasionally, if I have a lot of time on my hands, or I just don’t feel like moving anything but my brain, I’ll do the crossword puzzle. My wife prefers Sudoku. Like most things numeral orientated (other than batting averages and bingo cards), I find Sudoku extremely confusing. My wife tried explaining it to me once. You would have thought she’d learned her lesson after attempting to explain algebra to me in college. I think she enjoys the confused, dim witted glaze that overtakes me.
The weather report in the paper generally has the local seven-day forecast listed. The high and low temperatures, a weather symbol of some sort for those too busy to read words, and a brief description for those that have time to read words. Words like, “Breezy and hot with clouds and sun”, “Sunshine with a thunderstorm in the area”, and “Partial sunshine”. Brief, but descriptive, just as it should be, no “blah, blah, blah”.
Generally, I glance through the seven-day forecast without much thought, but in this Friday’s paper the description of the weather for Saturday caught my eye. It simply said, “Delightful”, and delightful it was. Sunny, not to hot, hardly a whisper of a breeze, “delightful”. As I peddled my bike around town, enjoying the delightful day, I thought, “What if every day was delightful?”
I thought of the many days I’ve been granted that I would label as “delightful”. Some weren’t “forecasted” to be delightful, most were just ordinary days made “delightful” by the company of a loved one, a phone call from a good friend, or maybe stumbling upon an old photo album of memories. May your “delightful” days be plentiful.