Last night I started reading Timequake by the late Kurt Vonnegut. I have actually gone this far in my life without having read the man and now that I've started, I can't believe what I've been missing. One bit that struck me:
My uncle Alex Vonnegut, a Harvard-educated life insurance salesman who lived at 5033 North Pennsylvania Street, taught me something very important. He said that when things were really going well we should be sure to notice it.
He was talking about the simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery, or fishing and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door.
Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: “If this isn’t nice, what is?”
Today I am wearing turquoise tights. I am drinking strong hot coffee. It is nearly fifty degrees and sunny outside. I am leaving work early to hop into a car with my best friend in the world, fall in caravan-line with the rest of the fam, er, band, and head down to New York City where it is 57 degrees and where we'll be making our debut at Arlene's and kicking off our 4 States/No Dates tour. While in the C of NY, I get to see at least one good friend from college and my sister and I am hoping to get my hands on some crunchy french toast brunch in the morning.
So. Y'know. If this isn't nice, what is?
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