NAMASTE

It was late in the morning and I was still in my pajamas. That's not unusual for me on a weekend, especially if I was going to be doing laundry and cleaning the house. But on this particular Saturday I rolled out my exercise mat, went to Goggle and downloaded a free Yoga lesson, and decided it was time to get in better shape.

After twenty minutes of a few Downward-Facing Dogs, a round or two of Cat/Cow, and several Warrior Poses, I finally drew my palms together at the heart and took my last cleansing breath.

I had to admit, I felt better as I rolled my mat up and put it away. I found my husband Steven reading the newspaper while finishing his second cup of coffee. “Guess what I just did?” I asked him.

“I have no idea.”

I could see from the look on his face that he wasn't in the mood to play that game so I jumped right in with my news. “I've decided to start Yoga again!”

“That's nice.” He didn't seem as thrilled as I was. I really couldn't blame him for his lack of enthusiasm. He'd known me a long time and considering the attention span I usually give an exercise routine he was probably not even listening to me.

“No!” I cried. “I'm serious! I really mean it this time.” I began stretching my back as we spoke. “I had to do something.” I explained. “My muscles are always stiff.” As I stood there I tried to bring my knee up to my chest. I could do it, but boy did I feel it in my hip. “I'm embarrassed to say I've also noticed I'm having a harder time getting up off the floor.”

“You can't get up off the floor?” Now he did look concerned.

“Well, I'm not bad enough where I have to crawl over to a piece of furniture and use that to get up.” I said. “But I certainly can't just stand up from a cross-legged position anymore. At least, not in any kind of graceful way.” I admitted.

“So what made you stop the last time you tried Yoga?” he asked.

“Because I was taking a Yoga class.” I did a few head rolls. “You know I hate doing anything new in front of a lot of people. Everyone was better at it than me. I just felt judged.” I did a few shoulders rolls. “Now I've decided to just bring up some YouTube videos for beginners and do it right here!”

“Sounds like a plan.” He went back reading the paper.

“You don't think I'll keep up with it, do you?” I argued. I wanted him to be as excited as I was about my new plan.

“Why are you getting upset with me?” he asked.

“Because you're not excited for me!” I cried.

“Okay. I'm excited for you.” he said.

“That's not excited.” I was getting frustrated.

Steven looked over at me. “Isn't Yoga also about finding the peacefulness within?” he asked.

That stopped me. “Oh. Well. Yeah. I guess.” I brought my hands together at my heart, took a cleansing breath and said. “Namaste.” I looked over at him and gave him a big smile.

Steven shook his head. “Yeah. Right back at you.”

HUMMINGBIRD FIRST

The roast was in the oven and I was just pulling all the ingredients out of the refrigerator for a salad when my husband, Steven came into the kitchen. “Wow, it sure smells good in here.”

“Thanks. Dinner should be ready in about ten minutes.”

“Great! I'm starving!” he said as he went to the sink to wash up. “Hey! Is that a hummingbird?”

he asked as he turned the faucet off and pointed out the window.

“Are you kidding me?” I cried. Leaving the refrigerator door open I dropping the peppers and romaine lettuce on the counter and pushed him away from the window to see for myself.

He was right. There he was the most beautiful spring sight I could ever ask for. The first hummingbird of the season was hovering over my red geranium plant. “Oh my gosh!” I cried. “I'm not ready!”

“What?” Steven looked at me confused.

“The weather has been so strange lately. Cold one day hot the next. I wasn't thinking they'd come so soon.” I turned off the oven, closed the refrigerator door, and went downstairs.

“What are you doing?” Steven called.

“Getting the hummingbird feeder!” I cried as I went to the pantry. Grabbing the feeder and the five pound bag of sugar, I was back upstairs and ready to go. I filled a pot with water and turned the stove on.

“What are you making with the roast?” Steven asked.

“What?” I was distracted as I started taking the feeder apart and began washing it in hot water.

“What's the water for?” He pointed to the pot on the stove.

“It's for the hummingbird.” I said. I turned the feeder upside down on a paper towel to dry while I began measuring the sugar.

“What happened to dinner in ten minutes?” he asked.

“That's before we saw the hummingbird.” I said. By now the water had come to a boil and I began pouring the sugar in. “The poor thing must be starving.”

“I'm kind of hungry too.” Steven said.

I looked over at him leaned up against the counter. I pulled the roast out of the oven and set it on a hot plate. “I'm going to let the meat rest for about ten minutes.” I pointed to the salad ingredients. “You could start making the salad for me.” I was peeking into the pot as I gently stirred the sugar, waiting for it to dissolve. “That would speed things up.”

Steven grabbed a knife and cutting board and began chopping.

Once the sugar was dissolved I poured it into a container and placed it in the refrigerator to cool. I went to the window one more time to see if our little visitor was still on the back deck. He was racing from planter to planter looking for food. “Hang on little guy, dinner is coming.” I called to him.

“I sure hope so.” Steven mumbled as he sliced the pepper. “Did I mention I'm starving.”

TECH SUPPORT

“ALEX!” I screamed. “HELP! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY COMPUTER!”

Alex came into my office, took one look at my gray screen with two white lines going through it and said, “I've never seen that before.”

“What?” I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. “What's wrong with it?”

“What did you do?” he asked.

“Nothing, I swear!” I felt like a little kid denying that I'd just taken two cookies out of the cabinet before dinner. “At least I don't think I did anything.”

Alex leaned over me hitting a bunch of keys. I could see a look of concern on his face.

“I was typing up an article and I went to the kitchen to get something to drink and when I came back it looked like this.” I explained.

Just than the screen went magically back to the words that I'd been typing only minutes before.

“Oh, my gosh! Thank you!” I gave him a big hug. “What did you do?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I just hit the escape key a few times. It's really no big deal.”

“Maybe not for you. But you know how bad I am with computers.”

Alex had to laugh. “Yeah, everyone in the house knows how bad you are with computers.”

“What am I going to do when you decide you want to move out on your own?” I cried.

“You can always ask Dad or Max.” he said.

“I can't ask Max because he likes playing tricks on me when he gets into my computer. Remember the time he changed my screensaver to a Sumo wrestler? Whatever he did froze the whole computer.” I complained. “It took you over an hour to fix it for me.”

Alex laughed again. “You have to admit, it was a pretty funny picture..” he said. “So why don't you just ask Dad?”

“I already do.” I admitted. “Believe it or not I only ask you half the time I have a problem. I was hoping by splitting it up between the two of you nobody would notice just how bad I really am at this thing.”

Alex looked surprised. “You only ask me half the time?”

I nodded my head, feeling a bit ashamed of myself. “So that's why you can never move out.” I stated.

Alex just shook his head. “Have you ever thought about taking a class so you can learn to fix the problems yourself?” he asked.

That made me look up at him in surprise. “Are you trying to tell me I should learn to be a little more self-sufficient?” I cried.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Isn't that what you tell us all the time?” he headed back to his bedroom.

I can't even begin to explain how much I hate when my own words come back to haunt me.

SQUIRREL INTERVENTION

Warm weather was here and I was finally enjoying my back deck again. The sun was out and there was a gentle breeze. I was busy admiring the tiny buds on the trees when my son Alex came out to join me. We weren't really saying much to each other just watching the birds at the feeder and feeling the sun on our faces.

It wasn't long before I noticed a plump gray squirrel scamper across the deck. He was only a few feet away from us with an acorn in his mouth.

“I guess he found one of the nuts he buried last fall.” I said. Seconds later he climbed up on my newly planted myrtle container and began digging. “HEY! GET OUT OF THERE!” I cried.

Alex looked over at me. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to stop that squirrel from digging up my whole planter!” I cried. I was now waving my arms at him. “What does it look like I'm doing?”

To my credit the squirrel stopped digging and was now perched on the edge of the container, looking at me with the nut still in his mouth.

“Don't you know it's spring!” I yelled at him. “There's no more burying nuts! Take that back to your nest and eat it!”

“You're talking to a squirrel.” Alex said quietly as he looked at our neighbors yard, checking to see if anyone else was out and could hear me.

“I know I am.” I was still waving my arms. “I was wondering who was digging up my plants. Now that I found him it's time to talk so sense into him.” I stopped waving my arms and sat forward in my chair, trying to make direct eye contact with my nemesis. “It's not winter anymore.” I told him. “You don't have to bury any more nuts. Can't you feel the warm air? Don't you see the buds on the trees? That means it's spring. Burying nuts now is not going to help you next winter.” By now the squirrel had dropped it's nut on the deck and was just staring at me. I looked over at Alex. “I think he's starting to understand.” I said to him.

“Are you serious?” Alex sounded concerned. “It's a squirrel, he can't understand you.”

“He can't or he won't.” I said. We both watched as the squirrel slowly climbed off the planter, picked up the nut and scurried back into the woods. “Good decision.” I called after him.

I looked over at Alex who was just staring at me.

“I think we've come to an understanding.” I said as I once again sat back in my chair and continued to enjoy the sun on my face. “I'm pretty sure he won't be digging in my plants anymore.”

“If you're serious that you think you've explained something to a squirrel you're scaring me.” Alex said.

“Scaring you or making you laugh?” I asked.

“Depends or if you're serious or not.” he asked.

I closed my eyes as I tipped my face toward the sun. “Why don't we just wait and see if he comes back before I answer that.”