Silver Linings

Today's topic is "Silver Linings", the good things that have come about over the past few months. It turns out that there are more than a few of them.

Spending time at home. I live in a lovely log house, deep enough in the woods that only in the winter can I see the lights of my neighbors, and then only barely. It has been wonderful to watch the season change. I got back here just in time for the leaves to turn. Each morning, the huge picture windows in the bedroom would light up with a new brilliant color, reflected from the rising sun. Moving into the new "man-pad" has been a pleasure, too. It's still too full of junk and disorder, but every day it gets closer to being my perfect little sanctuary (or lair...)

Family time has been a pleasure, too. Usually I'm on the road, either for work or just to be rolling along, so I just "catch as catch can" any quality time with friends and family. With a new grandbaby in the house (4 months old now) there is something new to see every day. He always has a smile for me, and wants to come and be held. Pam has been glad of the studio time and the "together time" we've had, even though some of it is for the wrong reason. This has brought us closer together, which we have needed lately. My parents dropped by this past weekend, bearing gifts! How sweet of them. They brought me a huge, snuggly-warm cotton bathrobe (perfect for dashing to and from the hot tub) and hauled off some chairs and boxes of stuff we had for them. A great deal all the way around.

Working has been good, too. Not exactly the kind of high-adventure that I signed up for, but not bad all the same. I attended a 3-day professional course on Confined Space work and wrote a short presentation for the guys at Ropeworks. They enjoyed it and found it helpful, and it fulfills a requirement for annual training. Next semester I will teach a course for a good friend over at the Southern Adventist University. They have an outdoor leadership program that is really taking off, and I keep in close touch with the people there. The program director there said "Now that you are captive in town for a while, would you like to teach?" He cheers me in my travels (and generally beats them with his own) but he knows an opportunity when he sees one. It works for me.

My friends have rallied and gotten behind me in ways that I would never have dreamed before. I've always appreciated them and treasured their presence in my life, but now it is at a whole new level. If you're reading this, then you are either one of those friends or family, and your renewed closeness with me is the shiniest silver lining of all.

I'd better close this now, before I get too maudlin and start weeping or something. Cheers!