DELIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

When I signed up months ago to write for this week’s Inspire & Ignite, I had planned to reflect on the emergence of springtime sights and sounds and wax philosophically with metaphors about nature, spirituality, the coming Easter season and beautiful end-of-the-year events beginning all around campus. I never expected to be reaching out to you from our new world of social distancing and online learning. While our present circumstances are far less than ideal, and we are all longing for a simpler, more predictable time, the eternal optimist in me insists there is still plenty to delight in. This is what I’ve been thinking about lately: delight.

I’ve been reading a collection of essays entitled The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. It’s a set of 102 highlights from a year spent writing daily pieces about the simple delights that surround us every day. Some of my favorite chapters detail the author’s experiences observing two people carrying heavy bag together, or noticing a tenacious flower doggedly growing in the most unlikely of concrete curb cracks, or high fiving a stranger whom he mistook for a relative he hadn’t seen in many years. Each little tale brings a smile to my face and causes me to be more attentive to the daily delights in my own life—those that I have taken for granted, and that I especially miss during this time of stay-at-home-ness.

When I was commuting from Denver to RJ each day, if I left on time, and if she left on time, a stranger and I would always be at the same intersection together – me at the red light and she waiting to cross the street on her way to the light rail. Sometimes we shared a nod of acknowledgment—something like, “Hey, we’re both on time today. Well done.” Delightful! I also miss my daily self-challenge to find at least three beautiful things during my long commute. Sometimes it’s a cute dog on an early walk, sometimes the incredible sunrise shining pink on the eastern face of the mountains, always the horses along Parker Road. Delightful!

I think what I miss the most right now though are the hundreds of little spontaneous interactions that happen every day with my colleagues and students. That’s what I am excited to get back to. The smiles and laughs in the hallways and offices. Delightful! The unspoken signs of encouragement toward a student who especially needs it, in the form of a knowing glance or simply being present nearby, as if to say, “I see you. I’m here for you.” Delightful!

We will get through this difficult time together and emerge stronger, more in tune with what we love and need. Until then, as we navigate this new normal, I pray that we can not only take notice of the little delights still present around us every day, but also create delight in the lives of loved ones and strangers alike. A smile from six feet away. A song shared through an open window. A puzzle completed. Cookies baked. The silly pets spotted in video conferencing. All delights!

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