I arrived at work, laptop and coffee travel mug in hand. I had just a few minutes before I had to start my 8-hour shift. I did not want to be late and was moving, head down, in quite some haste. As I silently moved down the sidewalk, my mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts about what I needed to take care of that day, stepping through my usual mental checklist. I fear that if there had been a deep chasm right there in my path, I would have been so lost in my own world of thought that I would have charged headlong to my doom. However, for some reason, I glanced up and immediately seemed to awaken. Just off to my right I passed by a family of Canadian geese. A mama and papa waddled along stretching and contorting their long necks. They were squawking and honking their arrival and their presence. Right behind them trailed four cute little baby geese. They were all fluff and no coordination. They stumbled and fumbled and bumped into one another. For a moment, the last gosling in line stopped and looked me in the eye and kind of tilted his head to the side. He seemed to be wondering what I was supposed to be. Figuring that I was just a passing curiosity that posed him no threat, he then let out a satisfied honk before moving on to catch up to his clan.That scene made me smile to myself and paved the way for a calm and contented day. Lost in my own self-created fog, I almost missed out. I almost let this delicious morsel of joy and beauty escape. Maybe I need to be more attentive to the world around me. Who knows what else I might be missing in a moment.
