Any Given Day in September

In the hours when the city wakes up and people trade their good mornings, I stopped by the bakery right next to our new home. When the fresh morning light comes together with equally fresh bread and simit, it really does feel like breakfast is the best time of the day. Even though I often find myself longing for unhurried mornings, I want to appreciate these moments that come along every now and then. That's why I'm in front of the screen right now :)

It's been almost six months since we moved. The streets I walk, the people I greet, the market, the pastry shop, the bakery I go to... all of it has changed. We didn't just move into a new home; we really moved into a new life. Even though we're still in the same neighborhood.

Today I woke up a little later than usual. By late, I mean around half past nine. I've been a morning person for as long as I can remember, so I've always loved waking up early and planning my day. Today was a bit of an exception, then :) As I was leaving the house, I ran into our neighbor. Thanks to our move here, I've gained another auntie, the sweetest in the world. With her warm smile, her kindness, her grace, and her sincerity, she helps me ease the longing for neighborliness I've carried since childhood. After a quick, loving chat with her on my way out, I went to the bakery. I keep thinking about how anxious I was this time last year, when we had to move and were searching for a place. What stressful days those were. But now? Now I'm so full of gratitude. And nothing turned out the way I'd worried it would (though getting laid off on the very day we moved wasn't among my worries...). But I know this much: life isn't made only of worries or bad things. Life, just like the black and white keys of a piano, holds both the good and the bad together. What matters is the melody we can make from those keys... It's hardly possible to make a beautiful song without pressing both the black and the white keys.

Thinking about all this, I picked up my warm whole-grain bread and my simit and headed back home. Today is just any given day in September, but autumn hasn't yet come for the fragrant pink tomatoes that are still holding on to their freshness. And I'm glad it hasn't :) After a modest breakfast that filled both my eyes and my heart, and my cup of tea, I was met with that familiar feeling I love so much. In life, all the good possibilities are just as possible as the bad ones. The chance of something good happening and the chance of something bad happening are actually the same. If we focus most on the good, won't we notice more goodness, since our perspective will change too? Sometimes in the smell of fresh bread, sometimes in the sincerity of a neighbor asking how we're doing, sometimes in a baby smiling at us, sometimes in a tomato we can't get enough of, sometimes in a hot cup of tea we savor slowly... There may even be more beauty in life than we think, if only we can look at our own lives with kind eyes.