IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS

Life comes at you fast. 21st Century technology ramps up the velocity. Cell phones, instant messaging, digital televisions, gaming systems, GPS technologies: they're all great and they all serve their purpose. But, God damn, life often seems like a whirlwind of activity--technology, bills, relationships, responsibilities--and sometimes you lose your bearings and you don't know whether you're coming or going.

So it's the little things in life that can help you regain your equalibrium.

With southeastern Michigan's wacky (Michigan-like) weather lately, my backyard has been transformed from a dog-dug, brown "lawn" to a shimmering ice rink. It's completely covered in two-inch-thick ice, save for a few spots in which the sunshine did its melting job.

The dogs were overjoyed to see me today when I got home for work and, when I let them outside, they scampered across the brown area near the side door and then took off across the icy yard. Slippin' and slidin' and playfighting, they brought a smile to my face, reminding me of hockey players sliding around on the ice as they tried to level a punch at their opponent.

I busted a thick layer of ice off of the fold-out canvas chair and sat my Carhartt-layered ass down to enjoy the festivities. Moments of serenity are little things, too, but we gotta cling to them, sometimes. They are increasingly--in this modern world--few and far between. This was one of those moments, and I clung to it. The sun was shining down on me, I was nice and toasty inside my outerwear and the only sounds I heard were the chirps of birds and the hypnotic shurrrr sound of distant traffic and my boys' breaths of playful exertion.

Slippin' and slidin'. Slidin' and slippin'. No cell phones ringing, no TVs blaring, no obnoxious commercials imploring me to buy a new dinette set...just dogs' breaths, puffed cloudy by the frigid air. I felt the tension of work begin to slip out of my shoulders and neck. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes in the sun. So what if it was 20 degrees? I was warm and I was right where I wanted to be. I slowly opened my eyes to the bright winter day.

I watched m'boys tussle for about ten minutes and then I watched as they amicably broke and went about marking their territory, voiding their breakfasts. And I watched as they scrabbled over to me in the chair and offered their heads for petting and then I watched as they discovered the ice that I'd knocked loose from the chair and mouthed a couple of big chunks over to the brown areas on the hockey rink, where they lay down. And I heard them crunch.

And I listened. And I watched. And I breathed. And that was good enough.