Days 18, 19, 20

Saturday July 2, 2011

I have a lot to report today!

First, I’m grateful to be proven wrong about things – or to have my stereotypes “boulversé.” I assumed Omaha would be flat, which it is, but it’s very green and beautiful. We went to the Durham Heritage Museum today, which had a great exhibit on of Pulitzer photo winners, “Capturing the Moment,” which was touring from the Newseum. Afterwards we went strolling through the Old Market area, which is stunning – lots of old brick buildings, window boxes filled with geraniums, and quaint little shops including Jackson St Booksellers that we got lost in for a minute (or several). After a spicy delicious Indian dinner, we went for a brief walk in Papio Creek. As the sun sank in a watercolorist’s delight over the creek, the fireflies came out. Little shots in the gloaming – brief, shimmering waves flashing over the cornfields (it is still Nebraska) – sparking, sparkling, beautiful. They were so incredible. It was a magical moment, standing and watching a field of fireflies lighting up, intermittently – just because they can! – moments of light and beauty.

Sunday July 3
Today I am grateful for old friends and for new ones. I met a dear friend from high school, Sarah, for lunch today. Thanks to social media, we discovered that we’d both be in Omaha the same week. So we went for lunch, and caught up, and it was lovely.

I also found a new friend. At my Jesuit college, I read a lot of spiritual work and had heard of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist, but had never read more than a smattering of quotations. I found a text of his in the bookstore (yes, 2nd bookstore in 2 days, this is what my family does for entertainment: visit bookstores) called True Love and I read it last night and I felt so relieved, so at peace. It was like having a wise friend speak to you and tell you things you knew, but that you needed to hear outside yourself for them to echo into truth.

Monday July 4

Today I left Omaha, routed through Minnesota back to New York. Before I left this morning, we went to the Lauritzen Botanical Gardens. As we went at midday, due to circumstance and timing of my flight rather than choice, it was incredibly humid and sticky but the gardens were really stunning. To spend even a few moments in stillness in a garden, that is truly a blessing.

Fireworks from above! Flying back, I watched fireworks going off - tiny poofs of light - for about 500 miles. Happy birthday, America.