Observation

My Dad, (seems appropriate to think of him so near Father's Day), My Dad raised me to be observant. When I was young in elementary school we moved to a house that was just newly built. In those days--the 50's when new 'developments' were made they would cut down almost all the trees and put the houses in. So my Dad started planting trees in our yard. A red oak in the front yard, a locust and a maple in the back. The maple was 'my' tree. Somewhere there is a picture of me standing next to it when it was planted. We, me and the tree, were about the same height. Needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, the Maple grew faster than I did. Before we moved from that house I was climbing in its branches. I spent a lot of time 'up' there. It was wonderful. About 35 years later my children and I drove past that house. Oh those trees. The Red Oak in the front yard and my maple tree were both still there. So beautiful and mature. It was good to see that the owners of that house over the years liked them as much as we.
When it would be getting ready to rain, or 'fixin-to' as Oklahomans are want to say, I noted on several occasions that the leaves on the trees seemed to be turned backwards, you could see the underside of the leaves. I noticed this for a couple of months before I mentioned it to my Dad.
Together we would watch the leaves before an approaching storm. The observation seemed to work fine. It is apparently part of Weather Folklore. So I wasn't the first to observe this.
John and I once drove down a street and I said ..."That lady has a white haired cat." He couldn't believe I could see the hair on her coat and make that assumption. I had seen it clearly as we drove by.
A keen-ness of eye can open doors to situations around us.
When we are open to seeing---and anticipate good things---they surely will happen. But we have to open our eyes in a literal and proverbial sense and be ready.

Dr. Bob Shelton would call certain people, "keen observers of life". Let's all work on becoming such observers...Of being present to the moments at hand...Of anticipating...of observing and participating...of loving the world... that hands us each day so many many tresures.

God abide
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006