It's Time

It's raining in the valley, snowing in the mountains, and happiness inside me. Not to mention I'm listening to Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan and thinking of how lovely my life has been. I have been alive for 8,877 days. Today is my 8,877th anniversary. Thank you all for remembering and sending gifts.

Think about that though. 8,877 days, 213,048 hours, 12,782,880 minutes, 766,972,800 seconds. Those are my life stats. I know I'm biased, but I think those numbers add up to some good life lessons (don't spit a mint out with a helmet visor over your face), some fantab experiences (from coast to coast, a couple different continents), and a whole heapin lot of love.

One memory: driving to Wulanyilli P3 (the school where I volunteer taught in Ghana) in a downpour--a rain with weightiness that made you check for dents in your car--seeing the beauty of fields with dust rising and mixing with the rain, dust rising like relief and a burden removed. We pulled up at the school convinced that the rain would have kept our students inside (but did we forget these were not American students eager for snow days and excuses to stay away from school), and found 50+ kids waiting for us. Drenched. Smiling. We stayed in the van because the driver said (and we knew) the classrooms would be too dark to teach in. The students rushed the van anyway, and I remember seeing those faces and the colors of their clothing blurring into a mess of light on my puddley window. They were beautiful...here's to you, children of the Wulanyilli P3, who will never see snow.

You know that book, The Giver? We are all like Jonas, I suppose, passing our memories back and forth and transmitting scenes, feelings, colors, dreams...my memory contains things I've never experienced myself. Keep sharing with me.