It was a beautiful day.

We decided early that first thing in the afternoon, we’d go to the Williams College Museum in Williamstown, Mass., and afterward to our favorite Mexican restaurant.

We love this museum; it is small and has a wide arrange of beautiful new exhibits, including Emancipation, a powerful and artistic reflection on the 160th anniversary of President Lincoln’s  Emancipation Proclamation, something that gets little mention in the news but which turned America upside down and echoes still.

We love going to this museum.

We love seeing the new and old exhibits together, and then, when I get tired,  I sit and meditate in the beautiful library room, which is open to the public. It is my favorite place to meditate. And I take great joy in trying to capture her love of art and its meaning. I bought the Monochrome.

I am always alone there – no one else has ever been in that room with me –  and I could sit there for hours. It has a kind of sacred feel for me. The nonsense and harshness of the outer world melt away.

When Maria finished her walking tour of the exhibits today—she stopped and studied almost every exhibit in the museum—she came to be with me, as she always does. I had the most beautiful and calming meditations there; I drank the silence and the beauty all around. There, I felt the power of the artist in her, the purity and love of it.

Then we go down the street to the Mexican restaurant we both love. Nothing captures our love, connection, and understanding of one another better than visiting this small, accessible, and excellent museum together.

It’s free and quiet, and art is powerful fuel for her. I love learning more about art each time we go.

When we return home, we are illuminated for many hours.  Life being what it is, we also found that Fate had had a rough about of diarrhea in several parts of the house. It took about 45 minutes to clean up; I’ll skip the details.

Oh, well.

We had a wonderful time. I love her more than I can say, and while I sometimes find it hard to believe, I know she loves me also. The museum is one of the most extraordinary and revealing symbols of that love. I am learning that art can do that.

Maria is never happier than when she is in a museum looking at art, and I am never happier than when we can share this and talk about what we both see.

On the drive home, we turn and smile at each other; no words are needed. We both ponder how fortunate we are.

This exhibit was called “Slavery.”

 Above photo by Maria Wulf

I meditate in my secret library room, perhaps my favorite room anywhere.

 

Maria had finished looking at the museum’s exhibits and came to sit with me and eat together. I love this ritual. I love being alone in there, and I love being with Maria.

My favorite Lincoln sculpture, by Sarah Fisher Ames, was finished in 1864. I think Ames captured this complicated and sorrowful Lincoln.

Maria took a photo of a fabric art display she loved. We were finished.

It’s good to be back home. Happy Easter to you. I will post a good morning wish on Sunday and then take the day off. I need it.