As for the First Time

He was staying with us for a few nights, a fellow couchsurfer and nice guy to boot.

Originally from Australia, he had been traveling (and couchsurfing) for a few months and was really taken by the work of Eckart Tolle’s: The Power of Now. He had carried the book with him all over the country and wanted to discuss its premise and concepts, thirsty for its essence.

Be present. Discover each moment as new.

This is Tolle’s message and I remember how powerfully they had hit me when I first read the book myself, almost ten years ago.

So there we were, on the deck, having finished a summer evening dinner (beautifully prepared by our guest) as the sun started to set over the water.

The oranges and the reds glowed like quiet fireworks and juxtaposed with the purple of the islands, they made me want to take it all in, in one big hug. I quickly climbed onto a chair to get closer to the sunset (!) and opened my arms wide, basking in the glory of it all.

Apparently surprised, our new friend asked: “Do you not usually see the sunset from here?”

Oh yes, we told him. Every night.

And every night it makes me want to fly.

A little while later we were all gathered in our sunny yellow kitchen, cleaning up and chatting some more.

I love what happens when a few friends prepare a meal together - or clean up from a meal well shared.

As everyone talked, I started loading the dishwasher and as is often the case, I felt a wave of simple gratitude for the appliance’s mere existence.

I have had a dishwasher for over twenty years (the first one was one of those funny moveable ones, gotten at a garage sale and which I rolled across the kitchen every night to hook it up to the sink) and yet I am always so thankful for it.

I am so thankful for the work it does, for the fact that it allows me to go to bed at night with a clean kitchen, for the fact that while I am sleeping, it scrubs and rinses and dries. I am so thankful for its support.

I love my dishwasher.

And so, I said just that.

As we were all cleaning up, I said “I love my dishwasher.”

My kids and Chris are used to me regularly professing my undying love for various strange things and they thought nothing of it.

Our guest asked: “Did you just get this dishwasher?”