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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Jean, Jaki Jean, the Miraculous & the Mundane





While the NRA attempts to redirect the dialogue about the control of weapons designed for combat as an assault on the Second Amendment & while the Obama Inaugural Committee attempts to create a national celebration representative of the country & the administration & while the performance of a virtuoso playing Beethoven on $3million violin goes unnoticed in a D.C. subway station, I marvel at the mundane
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Because the miraculous not only coexists with the mundane – the miraculous is found within the very fabric of the mundane.  In the fabric of common, unimaginative actions dictated by the limitations of a temporal existence. 

Faced with the surface of what is common & ordinary, we direct our focus, we contrive celebrations & we ignore the wonder embedded in our everyday existence.

Until we lose the ability to perform those common, unimaginative actions.

Although I have always marveled at the way the human body performs the most mundane of tasks, it was only when I lost the use of my right hand to a TIA that I realized how dependent I was on my mind’s ability to command my hand to grasp or hold or touch or caress or control objects.

And how foolish it is to take the connection between mind & body as a given.

With the zeal of a physical therapist specializing in hands & my own stubborn determination, the connection between my mind & my right hand was restored.  Subtle reminders of the miracle of that connection persist as I age.

And as I spend this time with Jean, I am reminded to direct my focus.  To recognize & celebrate the unexpected virtuoso performance found in ordinary & familiar actions & surroundings.

Last Friday evening, I watched with wonder as Jean held a fork & fed herself dinner for the first time in many, many months
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An ordinary, unimaginative, mundane act.  And miraculous.

And I am reminded to remain diligent, to take the time to redirect, recognize & celebrate wonders that pass for the mundane.

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