Receiving a Gift

About a week before Pamela and I moved from San Diego I had the privilege of driving out to the Anza-Borrego Desert for a night with a few good friends to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower. The four of us stayed awake for a few hours watching some spectacular shooting stars and talking. None of us had the illusion that we'd stay awake all night watching the stars, and since we were sleeping on the hard ground, we knew that none of us would sleep through the night without waking up a few times.
Before we went to sleep, my friend Peter gave us some advice: he said that when we inevitably woke up in the night, not to let it frustrate us but to open our eyes and watch the stars until drifting off again; to accept it as a gift. So that's what I did and I think it was some of the best advice I can remember ever being given. The night sky that night was so clear and beautiful, even without some of the biggest shooting stars I've ever seen. When I awoke that night and looked up at the stars I was filled with the deepest sense of gratitude.
Gratitude, I've begun learning, is probably one of the most profound religious dispositions I know. And it's implications are probably just as profound economically.
Last weekend Pamela and I went to the Oregon coast for her birthday and went on a short hike at Cape Perpetua. As we walked along in this beautiful forest overlooking the ocean, I was struck with the sheer beauty of the place. I had the thought that however useful that place may be, it is infinitely more beautiful. Any economic utility, any "natural resources", seemed to be far outweighed by the beauty. How wonderful is it that there are so many places in the world that are that way? Maybe every or nearly every place is (or once was) truly that way if only we had eyes to see. What a gift!
Thank you Creator of all and Giver of all good things!

Oregon

It's been a while since either of us have made a blog post and a lot has changed. The big one is that Pamela and I have moved to Oregon. Thankfully I'm pretty sure nobody uses this blog as the main way to keep track of our lives. Anyways, we're currently living with Pamela's parents in her hometown of Philomath and we hope that our being here can relieve Kent and Barbara somewhat as they care for Barbara's 89 year old father Ted who has Alzheimer's and also lives here. Kent started blogging about Ted and Alzheimer's a few months ago when Ted moved in; his blog is http://caring4ted.blogspot.com/
Our first few weeks here have been very busy as Pamela's sister, her husband, and our niece and nephew had been here as well and we'd been spending a lot of time with them.
On the job front I got hired to work at the farm stand at local farm called Heavenly Harvest and have been there for a few weeks. I may update more about that later. Pamela recently got hired at the local Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV) and is very excited about it. I'll bug her to post more info about that sometime.
I'm hoping to begin writing on here more regularly about things I'm reading and thinking about. I have never consistently maintained a journal and hope that writing here will help me process and solidify things in my mind.
-Michael