During most of this season, my commute has been difficult. Even when there’s no construction, it typically takes around 40 minutes. But now, with a whole section of the interstate under construction, it takes over an hour, and that’s with slow-moving traffic.
I haven’t loved this commute… until recently. I realized that if I’m going to spend an hour or more driving, I might as well take the back roads. And right now, those roads are overflowing with green — trees, grasses, and sprawling fields in every direction. There are times when we become used to it, but it’s pretty remarkable how much grows so quickly, and so abundantly. Growth everywhere.
And in lifting this up, I’m not attempting to make some grand, sanguine, pristine little point in a world where people are bombing, starving, separating, deporting, and torturing one another.
I’m just saying that there might still be life yet. And pockets of life might surprise us.
— Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 