Continued Prayers

Please continue to say prayers for my friend.

Going Skydiving

We all have those moments that define us and who we are.  If we are lucky, we have many of those moments in our lives. We also have those things that we have always wanted to do, those things that are on our bucket list.

Next Friday, I mark one of those things off my bucket list.  I am going skydiving, on Friday July 13th.  And I figure it is the perfect day and date for the event. An early morning with a good breakfast, then a shoot two hour drive to Chattanooga.  We will go through training, get suited up and go up in the air.  It is a tandem jump, so I will not have to be the one to jump out of the place – which is good because I would probably freeze on my first jump.  Also, who wants a klutz jumping out of a plane?  Better leave that to the professional…and let me be tied to them.  That way if I do trip and fall, and take them with me, at least they know what to do.

The day is the 2nd anniversary of my Mother’s death.  And instead of moping and being sad, I choose to celebrate her and her adventurous spirit by jumping.  And I have a letter for her, that I will give her on the way down. The first Mother’s day I swam out to the ocean, and the the letter go in a big wave, for the sea to give to her. This year, she will find her letter in the clouds.  And it is a little defiant as well.  She forbid me to skydive while she was alive, so I waited.

And maybe in that adventure is where we will find ourselves. Because maybe we all get a little lost sometimes. And when we are lost we need something to help us remember what matters, what is sacred, what is true. When we are lost, we need to see things from high up, the big picture, to understand how to navigate and how to be unlost. Maybe from high up we can see all of our pieces and know where to go to find them and put ourselves back together.

I am going with this company, Chattanooga Skydiving, Friday July 13th at 11am central time (12 noon ET). If you are reading this come on out and jump with us. The more the merrier. It will be fun, it will be trilling, it will be a moment to remember. A way to celebrate life, love and adventure.

And if skydiving is not your thing, have an adventure somehow.  Do something that scares you, excites you, makes year heart beat faster and makes you remember that you are alive. Have a life that is well lived. Life is what we make it, so make it an adventure, make it good and make it happy, my friends.

To go Big, Love the Small

“There are 100,000 stars in our galaxy, and more galaxies in the universe than there are grains of sand on earth.”

I heard this quote recently and had to stop and think about it for a moment.  When I heard it, it occurred to me just how small we are, just how small our experiences are in the grand scheme of things.  It would be easy to say that it all means nothing, because we are so small that we have no impact at all.

So, what does it all mean? And how do we find meaning i anything at all, when our existence is so small? Before there is an existential crisis, I think life is very meaningful, but it depends on how you look at it. And I think we have to find meaning in the small

I think we find meaning in the small. Because we are small, in the grand scheme of things. I have long said that life is made of the small moments, the tiny, perfect happenings that happen in between planning and living.

And if you think about it, it’s true.  The big moments in life – weddings, funerals, babies, engagements, long vacations, beg promotions, they don’t happen that often.  So if we are just waiting for the big moments to make us happy, we will be waiting for quite a long while.  So we must find appreciation in the perfection of the small.  Life is found in the space between seconds, the air between the raindrops and the breath before the kiss. Life is found when we notice how wonderful it feels when our love holds our l=hands or touches our face.

Life is what happens while we wait in line and hear our favorite songs, or when we are driving and it is the perfect day.  It is a lazy Sunday morning with those we love, it is our favorite movie, and extra buttered popcorn.  It is the sound of the waves and a good book.  It is working hard and the satisfaction of a job well done.  Life is a great concert, a glass of wine over catching up with a good friend.

We may be small, but our lives, our hearts are are big as infinity.  Because we hold an infinite ability to love and appreciate. And entire world can be held in a single smile, and a universe contained in the eyes of your lover.

These are the moments that we remember. These little wonders are what feeds the soul and fill our hearts with all that matters.

Want to make your life big? You heart big?  Your love big? Then notice and love the small