Loose Leaf Notes

I felt like a failure with my recent attempt to enjoy some time at the pool because after finally getting there for only the second time all summer, I was only there an hour before I got restless and left.

More recently, and after finishing the three stories I was working on back-to-back, I returned to the pool and had a different experience.

This time I really I saw the surface of the water ripple like a 60’s light show as I breast stroked laps through it.

I saw the drowning gnat. In fact – lifting it onto my hand and transporting it out of the water and onto the cement – I may have saved its life.

I heard a little girl about 4 years old ask a boy her age if he would marry her.

I felt the cement under my wet feet as I walked back dripping to my lounge chair after swimming.

I ate cherries and read an interview with Billy Collins, underlining favorite parts with a pen.

Last week I felt like a self-conscious observer at the pool. This week, although I only stayed a little longer than last week’s hour, I stayed long enough to realize that it’s not the amount of time spent at an activity that determines its value, but the presence we bring to it.