Forward More Than Backward

Life is comprised of steps forward and steps back. Victories and setbacks. Let’s take stock of a few of those in the Typhoon right at the moment.

The weather has broken a bit here in the Pacific Northwest. Today’s outside temperature is70 degrees, with 80 degrees on tap for tomorrow. The weekend just finished was fine weather, too.

M is as always. School work? check. Piano practice? check. Room clean? check (most of the time). Social and upbeat? check.

R and I joined the Boy Scout troop for a hike-in campout on the Deschutes River in central Oregon. It was a good time, all-in-all. R increasingly succeeds in more and more areas/skills,  and he also continues to fail in some others. But then, don’t we all? The width and breadth of his areas of success are rapidly increasing, leaving him a smaller core area of weaknesses. The experience of watching him grow is a fun one.

The Cottage is receiving continued action with home buyers. Now that the flowers are in bloom, the grass is verdant, and the trees have budding leaves, the ‘wow’ factor is much, much higher. I’m optimistic we’ll get something real – like an offer – soon.

C continues to make amazing and profound progress on her book. I may have mentioned before that she most often writes between midnight and 3am. Not necessarily because that’s her best time for writing, but because the daily duties of running the family don’t leave her much more than that. So she makes time happen. She doesn’t resign herself being a victim and blaming “no time” for never achieving her dream. Instead, she crawls into bed and writes while the house is nearly silent, while a cat sleeps at her feet, while her dog and her husband softly snore nearby. And, if she’s a little bleary eyed in the morning, we all just try to be kind and supportive. Because the book is important -  important not just to her, but to all of us.

And me? Work is challenging but secure. That’s very good in these times. I would call my surgery recovery completed; I feel better than ever. I’m craving gym time and physical activity. And that’s good.

I’ve been invited to join the Badasht Task Force again this year. That invitation is an honor and a privilege. The family agreed that I should serve. And so I shall.

Our Friday night Ruhi classes continue, with good attendance and amazingly cool harmony amongst the attendees. That’s about all I can say here, but the process has been deeply gratifying, using our house to make a place for teaching, even if we’re not the best teachers for the Faith in a direct fashion.

So there’s strength in our condition. There actually is some stability in the world, and some deeper stability in my family. Once we resolve the uncertainty, exposure and stress of the two-house situation, we’ll be even stronger, more secure and more peaceful.  The real estate issue is our only backward-heading component at the current moment.

That’s better than it could be, I submit!