Thankfulness, every day - Two

I walk through this lovely square most days on my way to and from my local office. The building in the background is an old school that was converted into a great little modern art gallery and hosts some fantastically innovative and interesting exhibitions, placing an emphasis on education. They also serve a delicious hot chocolate in the gallery café, always a good sign I feel. 

I love the contrast here of the ornate neo-gothic architecture and the minimalism of the gravelled garden space in front of it.  

This evening as I was walking home through the square in the dark, I was struck too by the contrast of light and dark: the deep indigo of the sky and nighttime shadows against the glow of light flooding out of windows and doorways, reflecting on water, and twinkling blue and silver in the bare cherry trees.

Contrast. How much less interesting and beautiful this square would be without it. How much less depth and texture my emotional life would have without it too. Loss, sadness, frustration, loneliness, anger... dark things. But all there to provide a foil to the light, bright, joyful bits. And so, because of that, I am thankful for them.

Tonight I felt that. Deeply.