I celebrated my 46th birthday in Monterey, California. To be surrounded by family was a such a treat. Ben’s parents, his brother and wife, as well as my brother and his partner, and my nephew all sang me happy birthday. Willie the dog was there too. My mother-in-law baked a delicious and incredibly time consuming to make browned butter pecan cake. It was a wonderful day. I even rode a roller coaster at the Santa Cruz boardwalk with my nephew and brother. 

I cannot help but mention that I deeply missed my parents. My dad always had a bouquet of peonies for me on my birthday - he called them the “Amanda peonies” - and my mom would always share how I was almost born in the floorboard of their Volkswagen Beetle as she and dad flew around the curves of the mountains to the hospital that was over an hour away.

My brother in law gave me Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar on my birthday and I am nearing the halfway point of the novel. It is one of those books I read only a few chapters each time because I honestly do not want it to end. Very few things bring me more joy than being out in nature - a great novel is one of those things. The novel is brazen, funny, painful and real. The whole purpose of me writing today though was that something happened this weekend that left a major impression. The perfect intersection of Nature and Literature.

Sundog

Freshly mown grass sticks to my legs
I run my fingers and toes 
through the Blue Grass Valley’s finest blades
I am home
I am right where I want to be
Amongst the bees and flies 
and the call of the red winged blackbird.
The bright yellow dust jacket of Martyr! 
casts a perfect shadow across my face. 
I read of the addict
I read of the poet
I read of the Iranian angel of death
I read of the complexities of the human heart
I pull in the pristine air surrounding me
I look up for a moment
A plume of vibrant colors 
In the sky above me

Sundog, oh how I love thee
As quickly as you appear
You leave.