The view from the living room couch where I spent a long weekend.
[Sigh . . . .]
After three days of much-needed R&R with a friend, it’s back to the salt mines.
Yes, that really was the view from the couch, where I sat with my laptop, catching up on work. This place is my haven - it always centers me in a way no place else does. I can focus in a way that I can nowhere else, and I always get a tremendous amount of work accomplished there, all while my spirit rests and gets back into balance. And every time I have to go back out into the world, I feel like I leave a little piece of my soul behind.
I suppose there are multiple reasons for its effect; at a quotidian level, it’s probably as simple as the altitude and the clarity of the air. But this place renews body, mind, and spirit in a deeper way. There’s a symbiotic relationship between any land and the person who lives on it: Each absorbs the other’s spirit, giving and receiving in a way that marks both, whether for good or for ill. This is one of those rare places, occupied by one of those rare people, that combine to create a truly magical world of their own. And that, I suppose, is the key: having a friend whose beauty of spirit imbues the entire environment, including my own soul.
So I have to say thank you to one of the most important people - and influences - in my life. You know who you are. And you are so beautiful, and so special to me, and I love you for it.