It's been a perfect day.
The sun bathed everything in a warm spring glow. It prickled your skin just enough to remind you of the coming summer. A lazy breeze off the bay soothed away any harshness from the light. Opening your chest and filling your nostrils with the crisp air, you could feel the darkness and dust flushed out of every alcove of your body.
I rested my elbows on a rough wooden picnic table and propped my chin on my knuckles. A grass field beckoned to me, but I ignored its call and just looked out from under the patchwork shade of trees.
A small bird, a black phoebe, swooped from the trees in a flash of spread feathers. It lit on a nearby bench. Then I watched it jump and pounce through the grass.
The empty aluminum skin of a taqueria burrito rattled on the table. I could still taste the buttery hints of fresh Mexican cheese on the roof of my mouth. The last drops of soda crackled in the bottom of the can.
The grass and the trees and the shrubs all looked impossibly vivid. Too many hours sitting in a gray cubicle staring at a LCD display left my eyes starving for green and sun-glint and leaf-dance and perspective.
Nothing pressed at me. No worries, obligations, or needs tugged at me.
Contentment spread through me like a swallow of good scotch.
I just relaxed, feeling my beard tickle my fingers, watching my son and daughter hunt for tennis balls in the undergrowth around the fenced court.
My wife sat across from me, facing out towards the field and the kids, her back to me. We were at ease with our silence, together and separate for the moment.
A light plane passed overhead on final to the nearby municipal airport. The sharp clatter of its propeller caught my attention. I lifted my head to peer through the leaves. I caught a speck of white in a spot of blue and followed it. At a break in the trees, I could see it was an amphibious pusher plane. That explained the curious sound.
I meditated on pusher aircraft, from the Airco DH-2 to Rutan's flying carbon-fiber sculptures.
A squeal from my daughter brought me back. She found a tennis ball and was giggling as she tried to keep it away from her jealous brother.
I watched them play and negotiate in their little-person way. I grinned.
I knew that the anaconda grip of work and worries would catch me tomorrow.
Today I could just be.
Pakeha