Days like these, Elizabeth Gilbert narrates my life.
I wake up at seven a.m. to the gray of early evening and go to the gym in lieu of my usual outdoor. I stretch in the rain-cooled air, climb onto the treadmill, and run. My muscles heat, my heart sings. And when I'm winded, I walk back home - feeling the water coat me like a combination of Mary Magdalene's tears and the sweat of cherubic Buddhas.
Home again, cold and shimmering tired, I change into a baggy, mustard-colored sweatshirt I've had since middle school, pull on a pair of sweatpants and thick cozy socks, and make a pot of herbal tea.
For a while, I sit and watch the water falling through the air outside and just breathe the rich scents of hyssop and mint and sage until the mere scent of them is not enough. Life is a diaphanous, wonderful thing when it's simple and quiet and you can luxuriate in each individual moment, drawing each one out and stretching it into the next.
If every day were a rainy day, I wouldn't get much done - but oh, what a beautiful, drizzly lack of accomplishment that would be.
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Your writing is beautiful and calming. I am inspired to go make a cup of tea myself. I've never had hyssop though.
ReplyDeleteOh, hyssop is amazing. Especially fresh, but dry is good too. When I was in Israel, visiting the Bedouins, an herbalist among them put hyssop in our hot, sweet tea (the weather was in the high 90s, in the desert) to help promote our sweating so we could stay cool. And it worked. Wild.
ReplyDeleteMedicinally, the herb has some volatile chemicals in it (herbally speaking) which can help ease respiratory problems and nasal congestion - i.e. cold symptoms, which is why I drink it when it's raining. I have a tendency to fall ill when I get rained on.
Fun fact: Hippocrates used hyssop to treat bronchitis.
That is so interesting. Your travels sound so fascinating. Bears and Bedouins. I will try to find hyssop.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if hyssop would help with cedar allergies. I'm going to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic post - have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's "Committed" yet? It's fantastic...but it's making me slightly anti-marriage :( We should discuss!
ReplyDeleteI read "Committed". But I also have the audiobook narrated by her, which I haven't listened to yet. I got a lot more out of "Eat, Pray, Love" when I listened to her read it than I did reading it myself.
ReplyDeleteI love her writing, and I can see how it might sway you on the marriage front, but I'd say your conclusions should be based on your temperament and your experiences - just as hers are. :)