Hey Dan

A friend made a strange request this morning. She asked me to tell her something pretty. This is part of a series beautiful/odd moment in the last couple of days. It started Sunday when someone complimented me on the amount I smile. My responds was a moment of unintentional introspection. I told them about struggling with depression which made them want to hug me. Truth, I could have used it. With that in mind my mind, on Monday as I was driving to class when the NPR media project “This I Believe” played an essay from Andy Blowers who struggles with depression. He said something that hits home for people who battle depression and live. He said “I believe pain tells us something critical about ourselves and life: that developing strength and empathy and bravery is more essential than our personal comfort.” It was a strange moment of odd beauty.

So today I get an IM from a friend asking me to tell her something pretty. While I had something, I did not feel like it reached that everyday Zen moment. With this in my mind I drove out to grab some lunch. I took a back road near the office to avoid freeway traffic. There I came up on a lump moving slowly across a road frequented by cement trucks and back road racers. It was a river turtle. It was easy for me to avoid him, however the truck behind me and the SUV coming the over way were never going to see him. I stopped my car, jumped out and scooped him up, dodging drivers who looked at me like a loon. As I put him down on the other side of the road, it hit me. Once again the universe was following my thoughts and feelings. It was another moment of odd beauty.