as much as i've seen that makes me believe that we are all going south in a handbasket and that we are going to, through laziness and greed and misplaced confidences, ruin the entire terrestrial ecosystem with us, I have just found a few great reasons to be excited for the prospect of living out the beginning of the end of things.
it's really weird to see the possibility of the end of life in the universe (because it's truly possible we are alone in this great, vast cosmos that we've come to try to understand) but to be more focused on the immediate fellowship with others. I'm not talking faith, either. I have none of that anymore. I am talking about the very fundamental experience of being human: genuine belonging, acceptance and love of the group you've created around yourself. I can truly say that I have entered a new phase in my life and that it is going to be amazing. I've been waiting for it to come to me for a very long time so its coming is a breath of air to me.
today, for instance, i went skinny dipping in lake washington with some friends. i threw off the burdens of society for a while and just enjoyed the lake water, the cold and warm currents and the pre-autumn sun. I feel renewed and filled with energy at the prospects of my life right now.
to be sure there are a great many things that are going wrong but many more are going right.
and so i leave you with this little snapshot of my happiness. i hope that it has left you feeling light-hearted because you are my friends and family and some of the many people i want to be happy in this life. don't lose sight of that, please. there are so many things that can make you sad, angry, hopeless and listless: make sure that you don't sink into them.
that is all.
and thank you, grandma. it's good to be called to your senses every so often.