Day Off

Well, today was my day off. It was a great day, but it will stink on Saturday when I have to go in from 9-5. We went to the dog park again today and we were there for two hours. Not only did the dogs get a lot of exercise and social interaction but humans do too. Every time we go we walk the perimeter (which includes a huge hill in a corner) and often stop and talk with other pet owners. We've learned a lot about the Springs chatting with locals. Almost everyone is an immigrant from California, Texas, or the Midwest. Every once in a while we meet a native.

Since it was my day off, Madison and I went to the Ute Valley Park for a hike; just the two of us. As we climbed through the trail we reached a summit of boulders and stopped to take a seat and enjoy the view. I sat and contemplated many things about life and happiness and God's role for me. I watched Madge explore, in and around cracks in the boulders over looking the valley. She is my teacher of ultimate virtue. After we came home and ate dinner, I was reading Thoreau and I found a passage that best summarized how I felt on that boulder. Thoreau writes:

Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine.

So I refer to Thomas Merton from the Abbey of Gethsemani when he writes:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that he desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

To go back to Thoreau:

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend.

Now we are home, fat and full. Ruth has started her classwork and we will occasionally discuss her readings in "Diversity in Education." For the most part it is a relaxing evening with soft music and dog cuddling. Unfortunately, Madison is gassy and forced Josh to leave the room.

c'est la vie!