disclaimer #1: i fear that my reverb writing isn’t very…well…good. i’m not inspired daily – or i am, but i am inspired in little snippets that just appear in my brain that 75% of the time, i forget to transcribe and they flitter away in short order. i am rarely inspired to pump out a whole blog post. also, i am having a whole lot of year reflection happening between reverb and another group i’m participating in (stratejoy’s joy council) so i feel kind of repetitious. so – my apologies.

disclaimer #2: i can’t pick one of anything. i fret and fret about picking the “best” or the “most x” or the “perfect” one and then i never actually choose because i can’t ensure these things. so, any prompt that asks me to pick one of anything, i’m not going to do that, to save myself a whole lot of mind stress (see? progress! growth! abandoning rules for the sake of sanity!). i shall give you a smattering and you shall be pleased.

prompt: describe a moment of beauty that you witnessed this year.

i am watching fish swim. i am swimming in the caribbean sea and i have a snorkel and mask on and i am watching beautiful tropical fish swim in their natural habitat. i stay afloat for hours, reaching out to them, trying to find new and more populated spots around the jetty. but mostly, i am just entranced and amazed by these bright colored little animals, by this entire world that exists under the ocean.

i am sitting on the grass in union park. for my coworker’s birthday i’ve suggested we gather up a group and visit the wafels and dinges truck after work. we do, and we sit, and we share with each other as real people aside from our daily responsibilities to our organization and each other. we are all friendly, kind, interesting, and it is a lovely summer evening.

i am at sushi lounge and it is your birthday weekend, just two weeks after mine. you’ve gathered your friends and your boyfriend here and we have a night of celebration ahead of us. i am so happy and proud to be your friend, to be a part of this whole weekend you put together. i am happy to celebrate YOU. plus, the sushi and plum wine are really delicious.

we are riding bicycles around a strange town on the north shore of long island and i’m convinced we can find a beach. we stop and i consult the almighty google maps, and sure enough, beach we find. it’s not a public beach and we’re likely breaking the law – there isn’t much of a shore. i find a long stretch of wood that reaches into the water – the north shore is full of rocky, angry beaches and even though it’s a sound the waves break like it isn’t. i walk out as far as i can until the waves are crashing over my shins and threatening my thighs. i stare out for as long as i can.