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COUNT TO 10
When I get angry or frustrated with my governor, my country or at the world these days
I do something my parents suggested way back when…
I pause…I take a deep breath…and then I count to 10.
When we parked the car at the beach 1 moon was hovering in the air.
A quick look in both directions told me we were the only 2 people there.
The moonlight illuminated everything but 3 stars were still visible in the sky…
Bathed in that same moonlight 4 dolphins came frolicking by.
I counted 5 different sandcastles…abandoned…decaying gradually
I saw 6 pelicans in formation gliding just above the sea.
As we turned around and headed back I counted 7 fisherman who hadn’t been there before.
While 8 tiny sandpipers hunting for breakfast scurried along the shore.
In the final leg or our walk 9 palm trees I detected…
and when I looked into our bag…10 sea shells we’d collected.
My parents knew what would happen when they suggested it way back when…
How it would take me a little while to count from 1 to 10.
A pleasant little interruption…a few moments to allow my mind to stray…
A wonderful distraction from the problems of the day.
No…the world didn’t change in the time it took me to count from 1 to 10…
but that wonderful distraction did give me more energy…
to enter the fray again.
