a grand monday morning

so, i didn't feel that great about myself because i couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning to run on the tready. however, i don't know why i was beating myself up about it.... after all, i had made a semi-conscious decision to skip running this morning because i'm kinda sore from all the softball this weekend. anyway...

the weather was/is drab, the air is hanging heavy and there is rain looming. the humidity is very thick so much so that the air is kinda stifling. it's kind of a bummer of a day. as if monday's aren't bad enough, this weather just wants to kick my butt. aside from that, the movie i picked off of 'on demand' last night was so disappointingly lame!

so, i go through the usual morning routine. shower, make some coffee, wander around the house in my underwear doing the putsy things that make my wife crazy, get dressed, grab some take-a-long breakfast, to-go mug and hop on the bus. just as i step outside it starts raining. sweet. i get a little wet, i get on the bus.

once downtown, i decide i'm stiff and sore and it's rainy and crappy outside, i'll just walk in the subway to work. i'll stay dry, i can people watch, and i can stretch my legs a little. so i trot down the escalator to the subway, and head towards work. i never go up the sneaky 'employee only' passage, i like to walk past the patient cafeteria, and through the gonda building... more people to see. as i am coming up to the gonda, i can hear someone playing the piano. i glanced at my watch: ten past seven, and thought it was pretty early to have a scheduled performace...must be a patient playing.

i got to the gonda 'atrium'. for anyone who as been there, you know what an amazing space it is. for everyone else, i don't know if a description will actually put you there, but i'll give it a try. the ceiling is hundreds of feet high, as the next few floors are actually lofted over-looking the atrium. the windows span most of the east wall, so there is natural light flooding the massive marble pillars holding up the marble walls and holding down the marble floors. there is a breath-taking sculpture and the acoustics are lovely.

just next to the information desk in the middle of the traffic patterns heading north, south, east and west there is a beautiful grande piano. i walk up and stop at a window ledge 20 feet away where i like to drink coffee and ponder the world's problems sometimes. there is a pillar partially blocking my view of the piano, but i can see the woman who is playing. she is striking; her face is slender and relaxed. she sits tall on the bench and her shoulders gently round towards the keys as she presses them fluidly. Her eyes are closed. She is somewhere else. The music that is swimming out of the piano is cathartic. I keep watching her. she opens her eyes but continues to play, she is looking right at me, i smile but she doesn't even see me. she is still somewhere else.

i watch and listen. i wonder why the woman is here. is she a patient? is she waiting for someone to meet her? has she traveled a long distance? where is her partner, her children, her family? her hair is short with quiet waves around her ears. it is brown with very unobtrusive streaks of blonde. she is wearing a mandarin collared white shirt with flax-colored embroidery along the buttons. a thin, gauzy-but-still- opaque-enough cool grey sweater hangs around her shoulders and clings to her slender arms. her skirt is long, down to her ankles, tailored gently and patterned neatly, geometrically. her toes are painted red and her sandals look comfortable. her right foot flicks up and down on the pedal.

i look at my watch. i am disappointed that i have to go to work. i mentally bow to her with my hands in namaste and thank her for this gift. as i walk past her, closer than is really necessary, i notice how tan her skin is, how relaxed her posture is. she looks like a billion tiny particles of dust sitting just right configuring this beautiful woman. i wonder how much wind it would take to blow her off of the bench and scatter her on the marble floor. she doesn't notice me walking by, she continues to play.....