Great joy in the morning! The sky is blue and the sun shines in it without pushing the thermometer over 100 C⁰.   A gale-force wind provides air conditioning as it whips treetops and hurls small objects around the street.

Today I am practicing expectation.  Instead of whinging as I roll out of bed and head for coffee, I ask myself with as much verve as I can muster “what gifts will I find in this day?”  Those words are too saccharine for my family and friends, yet safe to publish on the internet because that world is totally disinterested.

I start my day with saccharine phrases because my mind has ossified to the point that I catch myself thinking the exact same thoughts at the exact same time every day. I also catch myself engaging in habitual bouts of bad temper and petty meanness that drain the colors out of my day and leave me with an adrenaline hangover.  There is not enough time left in my bucket to waste it on recovering from my own foolishness.

Oh! by the way, I should mention for the sake of posterity, the world around me is wrestling with a pandemic of a coronavirus labeled COVID-19. Truthfully, I feel unconcerned because I am basically unaffected. I live comfortably as my Social Security sustains me just above the poverty line. I am healthy; therefore not overly concerned about contracting this virus. Of course, I take precautions: I wash my hands frequently, I wear a face mask in public and observe the six-foot-distance rule as well.