Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Beat of a Different Drummer

My husband has a rare and marvellous ability. He is able to see the wonder in the most mundane event or item. This characteristic is one of the reason why I love him so when he recently asked me to come out and 'see something really interesting', I turned off the stove and put on my coat. When he pointed to the sunflowers that had been deheaded by deer earlier in the season, I thought that either he was getting more forgetful than I thought or he had discovered some delight in a withered stem. Then I saw what he saw. On either side of where the flower had been, little buds were sprouting. The sunflower hadn't given up even though it was almost winter and it had lost its main source of food and propagation. It was, indeed, interesting.
I will have to admit that I don't always enjoy his pleasure in the little things. When we go for a walk, I want to walk, to cover the ground. Roger, on the other hand, likes to stop and look at leaves, a flower, a rock, the way the sun shines or the formation of the clouds. When we lived in the city, we often used the back alley as our exercise route. Roger would pause and peer into backyards to see how a neighbours garden was doing and I would be impatiently telling him to 'come on, already'.
In the interests of marital bliss, I now try to do my exercise walk by myself and then go for a stroll later with my husband. There is only one downside to this plan. I always take the dog with me and she likes to stop at every leaf, grass blade, unusual smell or interesting rock. I am beginning to think I am the one who is out of step.

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