Vermont Vision

Lake Pauline in Ludlow, Vermont. August 24, 2014 around 8-9 AM. No filter.

August 24, 2014
Day 116

There's just something about this place up here in Vermont that makes us call it our home away from home.  I've been coming here for the past 30 years, minus four years in the late 90s when I was a monk.

The house we stay in is hardly four-star, but no one would ever advertise it as such either.  The accommodations are simple but comfortable, and the quality of services in the house would best be described as acceptable.  But no one comes here for the material used in the kitchen countertops, the majesty of the bathrooms, or the size of the TV anyway.  We come here for the atmosphere, inside and out, the memories and memories-in-the-making inside and out, and of course, the location.  Yes, location, location, location!

This view we have here is a constant, even though it changes all the time.  There's always a different "look" out there, whether it be in the way the water's moving, the place the ducks feel like playing, the number of (or lack of) people swimming or rowing by, and even the way the light hits the mountain.  Our singular view actually has a million different versions, and you never know what you'll see from one day to the next, or even one moment to the next.

So I think that's my lesson for today: vision.  Just as the view changes here constantly, so too does my life change from one day to the next, one year to the next.  I've got the same basic location in life all the time, but the scenery still manages to shift around me.  And maybe I'm learning slowly to look at things differently too.  No matter what stresses or challenges life brings my way, I always have the free will and free choice to look at it all however I'd like.  I can see the clouds and the stillness, and feel lonely if I'd like, or I can look around and feel the glory of nature in all its beautiful disguises surrounding me at all times.

This journey to age 40 is once again a journey of perspective.  And right now, especially heightened by this beautiful location, my perspective calls for sunny skies and lots and lots of happy thoughts.