Treasures all around

Recently, my aunt contracted a disease. It ravaged her body for about a year. Her treasure was stored for the life after this one, so last week she departed this life for her treasure. I am glad for her.

I have a friend with whom I take an annual trip. He recently called to relate some details of the trip that is coming up. These trips are treasures for me. They allow me to be with someone who knows me over a long period of time. All the conversation is honest talk. They help me steer the course through life just that much better.

I recently got to be with my family. We all live in far-flung towns and have work and schedules, so it is always a treasure when we get to be together on occasion through the year, but this particular gathering was heartwarming because all the plans and ambitions that we have expressed to each other through the years have begun to be realized by each one of us. It was an invigorating time.

Other special people become treasures in my life. They make me feel as if I live in the land of Xanadu, the lovely, tranquil paradise described in Coleridge's poem by the same name (although many people call the poem Kublai Kahn). There, rivers wind through lush scenery, waterfalls spray mist, the greenery of life is everywhere to be seen.

Life can be negative and harsh without a doubt, but I don't have to look far to see treasures in the people that surround me to shut out the otherwise austere environment.

The Gift Part 2

Gifts bring smiles to the face and glia to the brain. They make us feel warm to the core, and they lift our spirits. Our steps have more spring in them. They have the ability to turn the day completely around.

While material gifts can do this, it is the people in our lives as gifts that really make life worth living. I learned a long time ago that a person will have many friends. But, the gift of the friend that fits the description above is not usual - a rarity that may happen only at intervals in one's life.

I thank The Giver of gifts for the smiles, the glia, the warmth, and the lift I get from that rare and special person.

The Gift Part 1

Life has a way of changing an event in a matter of a second. I have a colleague and friend who was just enjoying her daughter's first year birthday party one moment when suddenly her daughter lost breath and turned blue. Immediately, the whole event changed. 911 was called. The ambulance rushed to the scene. Paramedics performed life sustaining techniques.

The scene could have been a very sad one. A close brush with death could have turned to less than a brush. But, occasionally life gives us a reason to smile, a wrapped gift that gives us huge relief. Such was the occasion this time. The emergency room stabilized my friend's one-year-old daughter and prescribed medicine. All was restored.

I am totally grateful for the life of this beautiful, precious child. I know that life can spiral out of one's control (not that a person ever has control over the events in life), so when a bundle of love is restored to health, I stand utterly grateful in the face of a great gift. To the One Who Breathes the Breath of Life, I say "Thank you!"

Molding the opportunity

There is a certain amount of truth to the saying "Opportunity knocks but once." It's not exactly true. But if the same opportunity knocks a second time, some features of the opportunity are changed. This I have seen. But, what I have mainly noticed about opportunity is that it comes in a form altered from a person's vision of it in some major way.

For example, if a person dreamed of a particular place (s)he wanted to go, and got the chance to go there, the reason for going would be totally different than the person had imagined. Here's a tangible example. My friend's wife wanted always to go back to a country in Africa. She got her chance, all right, but the circumstances were totally different from the first time she went and different from the reason she had always thought she would go back under. My friend on the other hand, has wanted to be married to someone of like mind after his first wife died. Well, he got his wish, but the circumstance of marriage has taken him on a track far afield of what he thought he would be doing with his life and training.

Ahhh! What to do when opportunity presents itself! The downside of opportunity is always different than imagined. I hate that the most about opportunity. What a person has been working toward comes and asks one to rearrange some of the most special and delightful parts of the current circumstance. Surely this can be negotiated. And surely it will so that the special part remains. There is nothing like determination! Even opportunity molds itself to the determined person!

Images and more images

Images are good to have and keep. Some images are on paper so that I can look at them over and over again or show them off to others. Some are real, but exist in the mind. The mind's eye can create and recreate these images. And then, some images are created in words. These can be read at will and as often as I want to read them.

Images of any of these three types keep me going. I love looking at pictures whether I took them or not. I review my own blogs sometimes just to see the pictures. With the advent of cell phones that have cameras in them, I can see pictures that are sent to me as often as I want to recall them to the screen, which in some cases is often. Or, I can send them to others for them to enjoy with me.

It is the image in the mind's eye that is really important to me. I can see beautiful scenes or beautiful people. I don't even have to close my eyes. I can see mountains, for example, and superimpose them with the image of another's face. Or I can take an image from what has been said in a conversation and recreate it. I can take words from a poem, such as Xanadu, and meditate on raw beauty depicted in words.

The main thing is that images are of great significance. They keep me going. They allow hopeful irrealis in a reality not filled with hope. They allow beauty and peace if I find myself in an existence where little exists. They fill me with dreams that one day will surely become reality.

Can't do without my daily images!!!

Finding the way in a big city

Vancouver is quite the place. The winter olympics will be here in February 2010. I can see the what they are doing already to prepare for the participants and crowds.

It has a great harbor and many little areas where boats can be kept.

Of course, the main attraction is the impressive skyline on the order of Hong Kong.

Vancouver is a blast. One of the restaurants is called Cloud 9. Pictures from here show the urban sprawl.

Following life's river to new horizons

There was a bit of a change in terrain today as we left the Rockies behind and headed to the Pacific Coast. The mountains began to level into plains, and the rivers began to cut deep trenches in rocks forming canyons and gorges. Several could be seen from the rail car I rode in.

But surprisingly, another mountain range appeared along the coast that runs from Canada to Baja California. It's just as beautiful in many ways.

Life resembles this part of the trip. No matter what the experience has been, you have to leave behind what you have become used to seeing in life sometimes, and notice the changing terrain. Then what emerges is new, but equally beautiful, and many times even more delightful.

Second Half

We've passed over the continental divide twice on this trip, once going from west to east and now going east to west. Crossing the divide is like being in a twilight of the witching hour. The first time the clouds were covering the peaks of all the mountains around and the rain was pouring. This time, the clouds covered the mountains right above the tree lines.

The peaks seemed to just break out of the tops of the clouds. But, it was still mystic.

And the most beautiful sites still were around every corner, from waterfalls that sprayed you with mist

to islands in a very wide river that the train followed the entire way of 400 miles.

This trip though signified the beginning of the end, the end of the magic and mystery provided by so many sensational feasts for the eyes. I don't exactly know if the journey across life's contintental divide is as beautiful as the second half of this trip, but if so, it will have been worth living.

Pristine & spectacular

The mountain sites continue to be stunning and spectacular.

I have been on lakes before. I have taken boat rides and pontoon rides before.

I have seen isthmuses before.

But I have never done that combination in Canada's highest places. Besides the tranquility it provides, and the awe, it touches the soul. Pristine is a word that I use very little - probably because I live in an area that is not considered pristine.

But here the air is fresh, the aroma is scented of pines, and the horizon doesn't exist because of the imposing Rocky Mountain towers of granite or snow-covered, glacier-bearing peaks. It's spectacular!

Vistas

When you are on top of the world, you can see 360 degrees.

You can see all kinds of terrain - valleys and peaks and everything in between. It is an awesome, awesome view.

And although life can be rough, it has vistas as inspiring and awesome as the terrain in nature. It comes in the people who enter your life, no matter when they enter. They broaden our horizons, give 360 degree experiences, and otherwise give us impetus to keep going. A toast to those who provide beautiful vistas in our lives.

It's a top of the world, top of the morning day

Stellar days usually don't come very often, especially when I am away from town. But, today was different.

I should have known it would be good. I woke up in a town surrounded totally by mountains. I had a brisk walk this morning and saw two elk in someone's lawn in town. Then I went on a tour of several mountain roads that allowed some breathtaking scenes to be taken in.

The Gondola trip to a mountain peak took me to a panarama that was stunning. I received a text from my daughter, a text from a really good friend from Texas, and ended my day with a special highlight - learning a little French. It doesn't get any better.

Majestic beauty

Some beauty on the earth is truly breathtaking. I had one of those days today. I started in Glacier National Park and ended in Banff, Canada. Those are just two points on a map, but if you are actually on the ground going from one place to the next, then you get to see some real terrestial beauty.

The kind of beauty I experienced today is inspiring. It left me in wonder. It left me better than I was before I came to it. It kept me going the whole time I experienced it. It told me that there was much more more on this planet than just a small set of worries that I might have. It impressed me with the sheer power and mysticism involved in understanding life. It made me delighted to have been on a trek through the rugged mountains that reach to the sky.

I am soaking all this beauty up now, knowing that I will rely on its memory to spur me on later, to be better than I am, to put a small set of worries in a bigger perspective. I also know that I can compare this beauty to those who already inspire me to be better than I am, that delight me having been on a journey with them. It's a very beautiful journey!

It takes some motion to get where you're going

I have never really traveled anywhere for 30 hours. So, when I boarded a train in Chicago headed for Whitefish, Montana, I didn't really know what to expect. I've been on glass bottom boats in small places. I have been on plane rides for 4 1/2 hours, I have been on 24-hour car trips. But I have never traveled by Amtrak for 30 hours - 30 hours of non-stop motion.

I rather enjoyed not driving. Riding a train was somewhat like having a chauffeur. I have slept in moving cars before, so it is not a big deal to sleep in motion. I have eaten in Reunion Tower in Dallas that rotates while you eat, so eating in motion was not a first either. But, here it is a couple of hours after getting off the train, and I still feel the motion going on. It is not making me sick. It's just making me feel as if I am still on a merry-go-round. It's a wild feeling. I sure hope to sleep it off.

The 30 hours was worth the motion, however, because it brought me to a beautiful place to lay my head for the night. Tonight I am sleeping in paradise. It's a superbly manicured ski lodge with a tennis court and golf course beside it. Pine trees and flowers are everywhere. The scent of the mountains, of aspen and pine welcome me here. If anything can make the motion go away, it would be the paradise of a mountain resort. Just loving it. Tomorrow will bring us closer to the heart of the rugged Rocky Mountains. The 30-hour train ride will be in oblivion after that.

Faux pas

Just love vacations! They are so full of the promise of fun and relaxation. But usually reality bites somewhere during the first day of the trip. Here are two examples.

We're flying from the southern part of the US to the northern part. So, we made two stops. All went well. Then we began the descent into the destination city. It's the last 20 minutes of the flight. For about 15 of those minutes we had to go through a rain storm, so there was turbulence, not just a little but a lot. It was the kind that shook the plane, the storage bins, the people's baggage under their seats. People began looking around at what others were doing and thinking. Flight attendants were told to sit down. People began seeing their lives flash in front of their eyes. Then as quickly as it started, about 5 minutes from the runway and around 5000 feet, everything cleared up. Whew! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The other thing that happened was self-induced. I had reserved my return flight a couple of weeks from now, but was going to pay for the reservations at the airport upon the beginning of trip. So, the plan was to pay for them as we headed out from city of departure. Except that we arrived with only enough time to go through security and board the plane. So, the plan changed to pay for the reservations in the northern city as we left the airport to disappear into the countryside. Except that we had a hard time finding the shuttle to the hotel, so we got distracted. Fortunately, at the hotel we remembered the reservation, but had to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport, pay, then return to the hotel a second time. Of course, that was time wasted, but what do you do, right?

The rest of the trip is ahead. I hope that reality doesn't bite again for at least a couple of days. The next leg of the journey is on Amtrak and train lines bring a smile to my face.

Time is tricky

A Science channel special ran during the spring that had several episodes on the concept of time. I saw 3 of 5. They were very interesting treatments of the subject. They always get me to thinking.

This last weekend something happened where time seemed suspended for some of the moments. At other times, it seemed that time was dragging by. And as the weekend closed, it seemed full of anticipation. Time is tricky like that. And since we live in time as fish live in water, we have to deal with the kind of time we are surrounded by. Fish live in water, but sometimes the water is different around the fish. Some of it warm, then cold on occasion. Sometimes it is stagnant, and at other times it is filled with swift-moving currents. Sometimes it is polluted and at other times, crystal pure. Fish have learned to navigate all types of different waters.

So, I guess there is a lesson in there for me. Time lapses differently around me. Sometimes, I love the time I spend, and sometimes I dread the time I spend. If I am anticipating something happening, say an email that would brighten my day, time creeps by until I receive it. At other times I can view something coming up, say a place I didn't exactly want to go but did anyway, then time stands still. But sometimes, when I know something is about to end, time seems to gain momentum. This whole gamut of feeling time was just this weekend. I won't ever say again that time is evenly distributed down a continuum. That's not true even on the Science specials.

That makes it more important to me to fill time with special events, special people. They affect how time lapses around me. I want many moments to be filled with delight.

A certain reservation

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

.........

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight 'twould win me

That with music loud and long

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Two centuries ago Samuel Taylor Coleridge penned these lines to a poem called Xanadu (some call it Kubla Kahn). It paints such a beautiful picture in the mind's eye. It was a place called a pleasure dome, a garden paradise, described in glamorous terms. The poem is 5 stanzas long, but I have put the gist of the poem here from stanzas 1, 2, and 5. The last stanza doesn't so much describe Xanadu as it speaks of the king who built it being so enchanted by a maiden there that he could do nothing else except be captivated by her.

I have a special place in my heart for this poem. Perhaps it describes the idyllic place and person that any person would want to have. It might just exist in the mind. Earth might not be able to hold a pleasure dome like this one. But if it did, I would certainly want a reservation to stay there. And while there I would find this maiden with her dulcimer to lull me to stay in this place forever to hear the strains of her music, feed on honey dew, and drink the milk of her paradise.

So idyllic, I know. But if one were to have come through the desert sands and dunes of the great mongolian desert like Kubla Kahn did in the poem, then not only would that person want a reservation there, (s)he would want stay a long time to be drunk from the milk of this paradise, enchanted by the captivating music of the maiden. And if a picture could conjure the same feeling as the poem (without matching its description) it would look like the picture below.

XANADU

When a road plays out

Two roads diverged in yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler. Long I stood,

And looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having, perhaps, the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

But as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

in leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day

But, knowing how way leads onto way, I doubted that I should ever be back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence.

Two roads diverged in a wood. And I,

I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I memorized Frost's The Road Not Taken in 7th grade for a speech contest and have remembered it ever since. It has great value to me because of the application I give it to decisions in my life. Every year since 7th grade some kind of major decision has to be made in my life. So, I reflect on this poem, especially the last line. And the last line is true because the last line in the preceding stanza tends to be the axiom of life.

I don't know why it is that I take a path and then all of a sudden it takes a turn. Then the last line of the first stanza is true. I don't trust undergrowths. They hide things on my path. But paths usually have commonalities, so the second whole stanza is true as I evaluate my view of life again given a shot at a choice of two roads - because the one I am on ends and presents two new paths. This happens at least once a year.

So, this year when it happened, I recognized the fork in the road when it first came into view. Because I hate undergrowths, and because the other path had the better claim, I chose the other path. I am so grateful. And at least one friend who has known me a while has commented that I seem happier than I have been in a really long time, certainly a confirmation that the right choice has been made. So, I''ll end this blog where the poem ends. This new path has made all the difference.

Life's GPS

GPS is a great invention. The main function of it, of course, is to help people find their way. Not being lost is vital to enjoying a journey.

Life doesn't really have a GPS to help people navigate it. People in the ancient world used to revere their elders because they were the clan's GPS. When writing came along, proverbs popped up all over the world for people to leave behind what helped guide them to successful living. Later, world religions began positing sacred books for its followers to achieve satisfaction in living.

The best GPS for a person to have is not found in books or proverbs, though. It is in having someone close who adds spring to your step and delight to your life. That person makes the path brighter than it would otherwise be and inspires you to navigate better because happiness adds clarity to thinking and ease to activities.

The inventor of the GPS has also personalized his device by making a name like TomTom for it (and Gorman). That's a great marketing strategy since personalizing something makes it easier to buy in the first place and then continue to use. I have yet to name my phone GPS but that is coming. The analogy to life is great at this point. Those who travel with us and make our journey easier have names. They are very special people. Their names are symbols for happiness and delight.

A numbers kind of day

It's nice always to see new angles about things that aren't so noticeable. Many people hate numbers, but numbers can reveal things about certain matters. Today I dealt with percentages a lot. There were high percentages in some areas and low percentages in others. It was one of those mixed bag operations. But, I did get to see some patterns. Some I wouldn't have expected.

I also like to turn numbers into charts and graphs. Then I can see some patterns more readily. One of the patterns I saw revealed some gaps. I had some notions that the gaps existed, but the numbers in the graph made it crystal clear where the gaps were and also helped me see how large the gaps were. I also saw some categories that indicated problem areas. Now I know what to do. Numbers pointed the way to some possible remedies.

I am usually engaged in the study of words. That's more my field of study. But today numbers were singing loudly and clearly to me. It was a numbers kind of day.

The occasional bray of the donkey

I am listening to the sound of crickets outside as I write now under the blanket of the night. It's very pleasant to look out a window by day to see hills and lake, and delightful to listen by night to crickets and the occasional bray of a donkey. There's something satisfying about that.

But what an overall satisfying day. Breakfast with cousins that I don't see on a regular basis. Lunch with extended family who have traveled from out-of-the-region places. And lovely conversation to end the evening! A person can't have it too much better than that. It tells me that all is well with the world. I like it when the world turns out peaceful. For at least 24 hours I can rest.