Hello!

I’ve been on vacation. And other things, but mainly vacation. Man, do I have a lot of things to say … but there’s a dinner in the oven with the timer about to go. So, I guess I’ll have to be brief.

My husband and I hiked a trail in Costa Rica with one other couple and a guide. Not a single human noise around. Only plants and animals and rain. Lots of rain. We stopped in front of a great big tree  that sloped over to one side. Our guide said it was the inspiration for the storyline of the movie Avatar, The Tree of Life.

He said aborigines believed that when people died they should be laid out on a rock for vultures to clean their bones. I saw vultures. They’re actually beautiful birds. When the bones remained, they buried their loved ones at the foot of The Tree of Life. And they believed that the tree carried the spirit up to heaven, back to where they came from.

I’m not sure why this story has centered me so strongly, but it has. There hasn’t been a day since I got back from vacation that I haven’t thought of the aborigines and the bones. I told my husband that I think it is my religion. I don’t even know what that means. I’m just grounded. We came from the earth. We go back to the earth. Let’s love each other and do good while we’re here. Amen.

On that note, some joys:

I’ve got another meeting with the movie studio about my screenplay.

I finished my novel!

My husband and I have started cooking again. Making food together, it’s one of the better things in life. Good for our souls. Good for our bodies. Good for our marriage.

In meetings at work now, I flip through my vacation photos on my phone instead of paying attention. I highly recommend it.

Yoga. It’s really good medicine.

Friends. I have a lot of wonderful friends.

I have a new heater in my house and it. is. wonderful. Even heating throughout the house, all because a man came over and cleaned the inside of the heaters then gave us a new thermostat. Winter bliss.

You, wherever you are, who are still reading my blog even though I’ve been incredibly sporadic this year with updating it. I’m really glad you’re still here with me. Thanks for not giving up!