Car Wash

It was a day of errands for me (no visible progress yet on tomorrow's talk, but the empty refrigerator has been reproaching me since Friday). While I was running from one place to the next, I detoured for a car wash. At $4.95 it was a Chicago bargain, and our mini-van was so dirty that when I had to park it in a public lot a few weeks ago, the attendant noted "color:gray" on the ticket. (The actual paint color is pale gold.)
The weather today was splendid: a real harbinger of spring, with bright sun, clear skies, and (for us, anyway) lots of Fahrenheit. But when I drove out of the car wash, what struck me was how much I could now see the beauty of the day, and above all how impressive the city skyline was. I wasn't just managing to make out the shapes beyond that grayscale effect on the windshield: the grime had been washed away, and the day and the city were revealed in unexpected beauty. I knew they were both quite lovely as I drove around, but once the car was clean and the windows sparkling, I found out that it was even a nicer day, and Chicago an even lovelier city, than I had realized.
A real Lenten experience!!