Today is MY day

Once when we were wee ones, my little sister Lisa wrote the following entry in her journal:

"Today is MY day. Everything is going MY way. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. It's MY kind of day."

She went on to describe all the great things that would happen to her that day. She even included several enlightening illustrations.

This morning Lisa called and left a message: "Today is my day. It's going to be a good day." Bless her heart. She just had a baby and is sort of going through some postpartum junk, and I guess yesterday was a horrible day. The thing that I value about Lisa is that a couple of weeks ago she saw herself going down this path. She realized what she needed to do to help the situation, and this morning she took drastic steps to help herself. It IS her day today.

I had a similar experience yesterday. In the middle of work frustration (php or html? hrefs with extra quotation marks, elusive thumbnail images... are we ever going to get the history quizzes up and public? and, oh yeah, I have to give a conference paper next week in Pittsburgh and I guess I'd better figure out what I'm going to say about oral history in the classroom!), study stress (I really don't think I know anything about World War I or World War II, and how can I twist what I DO know about the 20th century into a coherent answer about foreign diplomacy?), and just overall annoyance with people (so sorry... so so sorry... why is it that I allow the actions--or lack of action--of one person affect me and then affect other people?), I realized I needed to take a break.

I walked up to the Johnson Center for a frozen yogurt, chocolate and vanilla twist, and I noticed the beginning of fall patchwork--you know--how the leaves are beginning to turn. They go in patches on some trees and then slowly the whole herd is on fire and you are in the middle of its crispness. Well, we're just on the verge. I looked up into those trees, still mostly green but with a few fireworks blasting out, and I realized. It's starting.

And then I started thinking of fall and harvest and reaping fruit and the law of compensation spoken of by Joseph B. Wirthlin this weekend. And I realized the power of recognizing and choosing and reaping my choices--of taking responsibility for where I am and where I'm headed and where I want to be--and what I'm going to do about that.

Yes, indeed, it IS my day...

And ironic that so many more leaves had turned today... and they are turning earlier out in Fairfax than in Arlington, and I forgot my camera, but figured I'd pick up leaves from the ground and scan them in... aren't they beautiful?