Wordlessly Watching

What a great day at work. The right couple of managers were off (which means that the right couple of managers were there), the floor was visible in our receiving department for the first time in a year, the weather was as perfect as it can be in July and I got to spend an hour out in it on a forklift, it's Friday, and I'm leaving on vacation in five days. Joy doesn't come from our circumstances, but happiness sure does and today I find meself very happy to be alive. I've been having more and more of those moments lately--moments where for whatever reason (and sometimes for none) I realize that I've stopped whatever I've been doing and am still and aware that its good to be alive. I've never been a nature guy (too into the comfortable indoors) but the blue sky and the breeze today held me attention for a long time. And since there are no unrelated topics, this is a good time to mention that for me birthday I received the Crosby, Stills & Nash boxed set of 4 CD's. Its wonderful. Never in human history have three men been so created to sing together. "Helplessly Hoping" is as effective these days as the sky and wind have been. This life is good. I wonder if art (and today music specifically) isn't a little better for existing in a world that is fallen and is being redeemed than it might have been in a perfect world. Maybe I'm talking out of me arse, but the story in David Crosby's eyes is moving. Pain can callous us, but it can also sensitize us to the beauty, to the good around us. The contrast can be overwhelming. None of this is new territory and I don't intend (ever) to sound philosophical. Its just that for all of me ignorance, I know today that Stephen Stills is me second favorite acoustic guitar player, the sun is shining, I am at peace and I am happy.