Dodging Life-threatening Danger, Enjoying Life.................. 9/1/20

       In August,  I had several mini-vaca-tions and excursions. It gave me time to breathe.  This is celebrating life. 

       Yesterday, after work, I  drove my roadster funster car five hours. Through the rural, farmland of Livermore, Clayton, and Antioch I rolled.  I continued along High-way 160.  

     It is the top surface of a levee that skirts the Sacramento River.  

     Inhaling the glorious California countryside was a relaxing getaway from the crazy urban lifestyle of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Listening to classic Rock music from the '70s while cruising twisty, sometimes one-lane country roads---that had traffic going in both directions, trans-ported me to on-the-road nirvana.  

     My mind and body were refreshed afterward.  Consuming the ban-quet of beautiful, calm sights, my spirit smiled and was invigorated.   Drudgery is to be avoided.  It is soul-killing. 

     Instead, we embrace moments where we enjoy life's wonder.  We want to work to live, not live to work.  Creating some time to relax, giving ourselves space to decompress after work is better than having no time to wind down at all.  

      This is celebrating life and being gentle towards our-selves. 

My Gratitudes for Today

1.  For common sense.  In August, I drove six feet from a major fire 20 miles south of Livermore.  It was caused by lightning on an early Sunday morning, a few weeks ago.  

 

     That Tuesday night, the inferno was flaring along the barbed wire fence bordering Mines road.  I intended to drive twenty miles, to San Jose.  Sur-rounded by flames, deep into this coun-try road, I now un-derstood why more than forty cars in this desolate, rural part of Bay Area raced by me in the opposite direction. 

    They were running for their lives.  

    In their haste, no one signaled for me to turn back.  There were plenty of signs closing Mines Road the next day.  That evening, the sight---my vehicle surrounded by fire, had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.  

     The sides of the wooded hills, populated with 30-foot oak trees, all glowed orange.  It looked like molten lava running down the hills be-fore me, coming my way.   There was no time to take pictures of this erie and life-threatening moment.

     It has been decades since I felt deathly fear.  The sinking feeling was subdued with every mile I sped from this catastrophe, heading back to Livermore.  Once there, I dumbly ate dinner, shocked by what I witnes-sed and the danger I barely escaped.  

     Many around me we laughing.  They were blithely enjoying the new mode of restaurant dining---eating outdoors.  Safely spaced apart, Co-vid 19 required bandanas and masks dangled from their necks.  None had an inkling of the danger nearby, moving their way.  

      As of today, this fire consumed 300,000 acres.  It continues to gobble the valleys along Mines Road that go 27 miles, all the way to San Jose.  I am thankful for the strong gut feeling that beckoned my retreat to the safety of Livermore. 

2. For time with friends. It is soul-satisfying---sharing meals with others, traveling together.  Having in-depth conversations. 

     Our number one need as humans is bonding.  

     Enjoying such times rewinds my rubber band, allowing me to enjoy my life, right now. 

      I'd love hearing what you are grateful for.