What's Important Is Life

From your perch on Blogger, Facebook and the like, my life seems simple and at times as exciting as most. I believe in God and so I'm forever grateful for his blessings. I prefaced the previous sentence with I believe in God because for as much as I am certain that he is real, I don't impose my belief on anyone. All to say that he again showed himself merciful when on the night before we were to leave for Los Angeles the electrical panel box in our home suffered a freak power surge and burst into flames. Sparks flew everywhere and the house filled with black smoke. It was but a miracle that we would be up and packing - we're usually in bed much earlier. When I saw the lights flicker and go out, I ran downstairs to see smoke flooding up the basement steps and up the radiators on the first level. I yelled for my partner and our son to leave the house and call 911. I then ran down to the basement to see the flames and sparks before heading outside to join my family. The fire department extinguished the flames and the insurance company will replace the electrical panel and restore our, now smoky home, to its original state. We left for our vacation with no power and our hearts in our hands thinking how lucky we'd been. Had we gone to bed earlier or if this happened 24 hours later the outcome could have been much different. Our lives are so fragile and the potential for our end is so immenent. I spent the greater part of our vacation in California  soaking in the view and enjoying my family. Our aunt took care of keeping the ball rolling on having us return to some normalcy and we're so grateful to her. Of course the 30-40 pounds of raw meat sitting in our house without refrigeration smelled like a foemalgajide-free funeral parlor when we returned this morning, but we're none worse for the smell. Power should be restored by Tueaday (fingers crossed). The moral of the story is that what's important is life. We're here by the grace of God and the home, cars, clothes and all the other material things we've acquired are replaceable accessories. 

Keep passing the open windows. 

Love and Commitment - Another Year

It's safe to say that love and commitment  take dedication, perseverance and, if you're lucky, a person who is worthy of the work required to sustain the two as the years go by. The years have raced by and today we celebrate another wonderful year together. Our dreams have taken shape and we're still taking each other to new heights. Love is easy and loving you is made all the easier by how special you are. I'm the lucky one; the prize winner; the guy living the dream each day I wake up to you. We don't know what tomorrow brings and I'm not big on counting my chickens before they hatch, but suffice to say that I will love you forever and if my luck holds, I'll have you by my side just as long. 

Keep passing the open windows with me.  Always...