AWARENESS

the process of me becoming an official floridian was completed this morning, as, for $171.85, i purchased a florida license plate. the process went without a hitch, except when the woman helping me at city hall discovered i was still in the system as a male. the problem was fixed with a simple phone call, but i have to admit, i was a little befuddled at the ultimate incompetence of the man who helped me at the DMV last week. hopefully he was new.

i debated telling the woman that i had already tried to get the DMV to fix that little gender problem once, but i opted not to. i think people who work in any type of customer service hear enough complaints. for example, yesterday i scooted over to Bath & Body Works at the mall to pick up more shampoo and conditioner. b&b works has this bio line that works really well and smells really good. and the conditioner isn't runny. i hate runny conditioner. well, when i got to the store, the shelf containing the bio products was nearly bare, a small clearance sign hanging there sadly. my stomach dropped. no! they couldn't be discontinuing my product! this had happened with a face wash i really liked there several months ago, and that was almost more disappointment than i could handle. i found another face wash that works okay, but has nowhere near the refreshing cleansing power of the old face wash. i sought an employee and asked about the fate of the bio line. it had indeed been replaced by a new, "more natural" line of products. "NOOOO!" i howled. "bath and body works ALWAYS does this to me!" the attendant helpfully suggested i try the new line; she actually likes it better. no, i assured her, i would not like it better, because i do not like the new face wash better than the old face wash that got discontinued. she just looked tired and said i should buy up all the clearance bottles. when i reflected on this experience later, i felt very bad. this poor b&b works employee was just trying to get through her day, and i spoke crossly to her about decisions she had nothing to do with. this was crappy of me, and i asked God to forgive me, and so when i thought of complaining of the DMV employee's ignorant twice-repeated error to the city hall tag woman, i thought no, she will not benefit from me opening my big mouth. so i just stood there patiently and wished her to have a nice day when i left.

i want to attribute this very small improvement in my awareness level to the fact that for the last two days, i've gotten out of bed early to sit out on the porch and spend some time in prayer/quiet/reflection/whatever you want to call it. i don't say this to brag. in fact, i've been meaning to get up in the morning to have such a time of quiet for about 11 years now, and i'm just now finally doing it. it's a practice i highly recommend. this morning's experience was fairly dry until i shut my eyes (mostly out of sleepiness), and suddenly the sounds of the morning were so sharp that i couldn't believe my ears. i heard insects buzzing, i heard the calls and chirps of probably about 20 different kinds of birds - the melancholy coos of pigeons, the harsh caws of mocking birds, the gentle chirping of sparrows. it was almost deafening. i walked inside feeling more centered and calm than i had felt in a long time.