Lit eZine Vol 4 | p-3 | AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT | Rant of Appreciation by Evan Griffith

We bring to you our featured writer Evan Griffith
with his articles
CELEBRATE,
SILENT WALKING: On the importance of walking without sound in your ears
and
RANT OF APPRECIATION
plus
AN INTERVIEW with Evan Griffith

ARTICLE

RANT OF APPRECIATION
by Evan Griffith

Things have changed and I’m loving it. Not too many years ago this thing called The Crash happened. You may have heard of it. I think it affected a couple of people beyond us as well. Suffice it to say, we’ve crawled through that dark swamp into daylight — it’s time to rant about all I appreciate!

It’s best to start close to my heart: 

Ohmyfuckinggod I love my wife and kid. I’m crazy silly loopy for them. AnkaSeti for her quietly funny ways, her soft creative spark and her loving tenderness. 

I appreciate the Zonk for his surprises. For his caring nonchalance and his raucously aggressive sense of when it’s right to have a good time.

Our two dogguses too—The beast of a German Shepherd and the dainty toenail-tapping Viszla. 

I’m appreciating you, highways with medians. And you, bridges over otherwise undrivable chasms. I’m digging you, service stations and rest areas and clean-enough bathrooms wherever I go. 

Oh, the things to relish: 

food offerings everywhere 
lights on street corners 
flowers by the roadside 
playgrounds peopled by little proto-adults 
service with a smile 
diners 
big ole vans for work and play 
engaging strangers 
toothpicks 
Christmas trees in Florida 
Frogs, especially the ones that hop high and make splat sounds when they land 
standing desks 
hammocks 
birds that take wing suddenly
squirrels 
and the dogs that chase them 
cool grass on a warm day 
rain on our metal roof 
a nap after hours of yard work 
pools! 
bungee cords 
seriously thin, soft sheets 
interesting minds abounding, everywhere I turn 
infectious goodness 
that dude walking across the parking lot who picks up litter 
our Mamacita
thick and purring soft throw rugs, the kind you can curl up on 
reading books with your family, each lost in their own interior universe 
the multiverse! 
the peeps into surreality we get from time to time 
moments of awe 
moments of abandon 
moments of sweet connection 

I love living in this era of dishwashers and dryers and hot water heaters and GPS navigational systems.

The essence of billions of cosmic years aggregating into moments… I’m hell bent on enjoying these minutes of mine, so much went into their making. 

I love you life! I love you breath — I love you drumbeat of my heart — I love you people of the world — I love you flora and fauna and fabulists — I love you near and I love you far — I love your wicked ways — I love your entrancing thoughts — I love the divine in you — I love the beast in you — I love fingers and toes and navels and napes — I love the way this keyboard feels as I go tappata tappata tap tap tappata — I love the light we flick on in the dark — I love those who’ve helped me through my darkness — I love those who let me in on their dark days — I love green tea — I love when you were mean to me — I love when you left me for another — I love the ways I improvised — I love the startling and transcendent beauty in pain — I love you for reading — I love me for writing — I love the warp and the woof — I love the right and the left — I love the ones who build and the ones who loaf — I love the way opposites make it all work — I love