7/27/17 RMB Baja in Front, Texas to the Left

7/27/17 RMB Baja in Front, Texas to the Left

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

July is flying by. Birthdays, the San Diego Comic-Con, a family reunion, there is so much going on that days blend, weeks disappear, and the end of the month is here.

Driving home from work last night, the sun was just beginning to set, making shadows long and cooling the summer heat. Ahead of me the license plate read “Baja California”, and the car to the left of it had “Texas”, all surrounded by cars carrying “California” plates, mine included.

I had opened all the windows to let out the entrapped heat and rather than closing them and switching on the air, they remained down, the wind making a nice breeze through the car. It brought back days of riding in my 66 Mustang, which always had the window down because there was no air conditioner.

Elton John bellowed out Bennie and the Jets, while we cruised down Broadway, he and I, and Baja California and Texas. The moment felt surreal, as though the past became the present, youth paid a visit, happiness existed untethered to any cause but the present moment’s reality, air, sound, and the fellowship of vehicles from near and far, all moving in unison.

I suppose this is what Eckhart Tolle meant about living in the moment. Each one holds its own universe and all that we wish to include in it. By taking notice, we gather elements into our awareness, the air, the song, the neighboring cars.

I planned to write this letter last night, however the evening meal and ensuing exhaustion, waylaid that notion. This morning, the sun woke before I did. At 6:30 am, the day seems in full swing. Work and obligation tug at me. However, Baja and Texas hold stronger sway.

That moment sought to be recorded, and in doing so, became this one, where its specialness is documented, where the quiet of the morning occupies the house, the sounds of distant cars seep through my open bedroom window, and the cat lays sleeping by my pillow, where all of that and more, become an equally precious moment amidst the onslaught of summer days speeding by.

Sharing moments,

Loraine

6/26/17 RMB Wonder Woman

6/26/17 RMB Wonder Woman

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

We walked into the theater early, before the previews, and watched as seats filled. The new Wonder Woman movie entertained us all. It excited and inspired us. Although quite different from the last film I enjoyed in the theater, Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson, what they had in common was a good story told well.

We entertain one another with stories, fiction and fact, in books, in theaters, over the phone, everywhere there is a story to be told. And each of our lives is a story in itself, each step taken is a move into the next chapter. Each struggle, a version of good vs. evil, or a walk into the unknown, or a debate between what is best and what is less, all ending in lessons learned or not, only to be taught again.

May our actions write many happily after all endings,

Loraine