I tried to grow out my nails in an amusing attempt to prove that I can be the girl with delicate fingernails. But I cut them, and remembered how much I love freshly cut fingernails. I bought sweaters and dress pants for sophistication, only to crave the afternoon change into jeans and a white tee. I bought makeup only to remember that I like my face without it. And here I am in Washington, DC, only to realize that I love waking up in Valley Center.

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

-R. S. Thomas