A Day to Remember

I spent the afternoon today in the sun at Bull Creek in Austin, swung on a rope swing, and watched dogs and people play. It's been years since I've done this and felt as good with the oscillating energy I've had. I felt like I should go study for my teacher certification program, but I just stayed as long as I desired, soaked in the sun, and let its healing rays penetrate my body.

I just finished reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller this week. He writes about life as living a story. Interesting stories have struggle. As Miller says, nobody goes to a movie to see a story about a guy who wants a Volvo, buys it, and that's it. Miller says we can choose things to attempt in our lives that make for a good story. I'd add however that some things happen to us in life that we don't choose. But that's what usually happens in the movies anyway. I felt better reading his book as I thought I have the makings of a good story.

Several weeks later now as I continue this post:
But Reality is not Hollywood. People die in earthquakes and floods, end of story. In this life at least. I used to dream of doing big things. I just moved into a house on a multi-ethnic street in East Austin last week, my neighbors on the right are Black and on the left Hispanic. Our "Abuelita" neighbor has brought us food twice in less that a week. Since we don't have our internet hooked up yet, I'm currently sitting outdoors at a cafe in East Austin that has Wifi. A few minutes ago, a young black man on the street walked by and we made eye contact. I could see he had a cut and dried blood on his cheek. He came over and sat down at my table. He told me he got hit in the face with a brick last night. We were able to share our stories of how things happen to us in life that we don't expect. He walked away with a smile on his face. Right now, sharing stories and making connections, that's big enough for me.