Today

I pull back the curtains to welcome the sunshine into my apartment. A homeless man is sleeping on the steps outside - bulging belly, scruffy beard, stuffed in his winter coat. Above him hangs a red sign that reads: Luxury Condos for Sale. A young man underneath a hoodie on his cell, steps over him as he heads onto the street. The garden outside my window, displays thinly planted trees with naked branches...however, one tree is proudly decorated in leaves of grasshopper green. There's a hint of spring in the air. Bags of fertilizer are strategically placed in the far corners of the Magrichantie Garden. Garbage bags full of leaves and trash are stacked at the gate's entrance. There's a stillness about the garden in the middle of a city block - the past converging on new construction. Still there's a hint of green. People busying themselves with the day's activities, pass by zipped-up in comfort. Cars are doubled-parked on the street. A few old men gather on the corner, hands stuffed in their pockets and long on conversation. They are animated, shifting, leaning and trying to out-talk one another. Nodding a hello here and there, a couple of women stroll by pushing carts full of laundry. The firetrucks barreling down the street towards an emergency, interrupt the dialogue between the older woman and the young girl heading into the church next door. Both dressed in brightly-colored dresses, the older woman adorned in a fantastic wide-brimmed hat. Not only am I taking in the brightness of the sun but the energy of my street.