Please, please, PLEASE get in touch with us and let us know if we're inspiring or annoying you, if you have questions or comments, or just to say hi! We may even stop in and see you at some point!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

CHRONICLES: The Long Flight Home

Having gleaned some wisdom from my flight to Denver with the little one, I learned some cool tricks. First off, I woke him up when I got up, and did everything I could to keep him alert, awake, entertained, and happy until we got on the plane. He wanted to go to sleep a couple of times, but I just kept rallying. Second, I waited until we got on the plane and ready to start taxiing before I plugged him into the bottle. He went out like a match. Probably sould knock on wood, but this was amazing. Hopefully, the second leg of the trip goes better.

On a side note, it's interesting the people you meet and get a sense for on trips like this. A very kind, young lady wound up next to me and Mal. She and her son/brother (she's what my father would call "of indescriminate age") are flying back to Kenai. She was very friendly, and, coincidentally, her birthday is tomorrow, too, same as Malcolm's and my Aunt Memo's. On the way down, from Seattle to Denver, a young ma sat across the empty seat from me, and, having two daughters 1- and 3- years old, knew a bunch of tricks to help keep Malcolm entertained. That was also pretty rad.

I'm continually finding new people to help me restore my faith in the inherant goodness of humanity. It seems like too often, we find ourselves falling victem to harsh, abrasive, sarcastic, demeaning, and bigotous people, people who lack self confidence and trust. It's always awesome to meet someone new, even if just for a second, a few minutes, or an hour, even if you never get their name and will never see them again, who you will remember for possibly years to come, just because they did one simple thing: possessed kindness.

Here's to faith.

THOUGHTS: The Balance of Light and Darkness

Lately, I've been going through some crazy life-motions, exploring some new concepts and feelings.

Last week, I went to Colorado with Malcolm. We visited my parents in Salida. It was an amazing trip. We went to the park every day, and Malcolm and I both got worn out.

When I came back, certain variables in my life had changed in a very dark way. Not in a bad way, but in a dark way.

I suppose the point of the blog tonight is to explore the difference between bad and dark. There are many cliches and quotes about how the night is always darkest before the dawn, about how you don't know how to see the light if there isn't darkness for it to illuminate. These are nice little quotes, sure, and, if you wanted to totally jump on the bandwagon, they can be inspiational or life-changing. But what does it all really mean? There's still an insinuation that the darkness is bad. I'm starting to believe that it's not bad. Darkness is the balance to light. Adversity is the balance to complacency. Yin and yang. Life and death.

There are many things that are commonly considered bad, things like death, sadness, and hurt. I don't know if I'm that convinced that they actually are. I believe more and more often that they're dark. They're the natural balance to the positive things we have in our lives.

Consider this:   Many have said that we must experience adversity to appreciate when times are good. Some have also said that fortunate experiences make us strong enough to weather the storm when life gets difficult. I present the idea that these two concepts are really one, and that they can be mixed and matched in different, copacetic ways. When we realize this, we can attain a certain amount of understanding and acceptance of things for simply being what they are, neither good nor bad.

An amazingly enlightening thought, if I say so myself.