Morning Again

I asked the Eskimo from Barrow, Alaska sitting across our kitchen table from me a question about time, years of time, and I illustrated the question with a timeline, a straight line with dates listed from left to right.  He responded that in his culture time is illustrated not in lines but in circles, in cycles such as days from morning to morning, or months from new moon to new moon, or years from snowfall to snowfall.

As the sun rises in the east coming in through our bedroom and kitchen windows, I know that another day lies before me.  It will be different from the days in the past and those in the future and yet it's the same.  Both are are valuable.  The fresh air of the morning, even on a hot day, feels like medicine as I step out with the dog to feed him.  Checking the bird feeder and the humming bird water is much like yesterday, and the day before.  Feeding and watering the chickens and peacock and peahens is another part of the cycle of the day; observing the new chicks from hatching to coming out from under mom to scratching up some feed to watching them jump up on the roost the first time is the unique part of the day.

For most of us most of the time another day is just that, another day.  We forget, or at least I have often, how special is it to be alive, to feel the cool morning, to taste the fresh tomato just off the vine, to share a moment with one's best friend.

At this moment the sun is dipping behind the tree, even after spending the afternoon hiding behind a series of clouds.  Finally at this stage in my life, I say thank you for this day, for my ability to eat without discomfort and enjoy the taste, to walk without pain, to sleep without hestitation and to remember why I entered the room.  As it stands tonight I look forward to another deep breath of fresh morning air and the surprises that will follow.  I regret the chaos in the world and am so thankful for the peace that envelopes my life.  My wish today, that is, at this stage in my life, I wish that everyone could experience that calm, that peace.

So is the cycle of life.  Thank you everyone.