You have seen how I bore you on eagle's wings.
- Exodus 19
You and a friend go on a 10-mile hike. Right in the middle of it, there's a howling thunderstorm which scares the bejeesus out of both of you. But you keep trucking and you make it. All the way. And you celebrate with a high-5 and a beer.
A couple goes out to dinner for their 52nd wedding anniversary. Just the two of them. At one point during the meal, they gaze across the table at each other in silence. Each smiles a gentle "Look-how-far-we've-come" smile. They each whisper, "I love you."
A high school girl wants to be a doctor and signs up for organic chemistry. She's warned how hard it is. And it ends up being harder than any warning foretold. But she makes a B in it. And lying in bed after getting her grade, she breathes deeply and says out loud, "I friggin' did it!"
Just the fact that you're alive and kicking right now makes it very clear that - whatever struggles, terrors, threats, loss, fear, sadness, heartache or rejection you've been through - you've made it on the other side.
OK, OK, you may have some scars and battle wounds in heart, body and mind. But you're on the other side of whatever goop and gunk that life has tossed your way. You've made it! And that is worth celebrating.
Howard is flying high with a trip to Boston last week to hang with his daughter, Windsor, and then to come home and find his younger daughter, Kelsey, home from medical school for a week. And this weekend, he flies up to Indianapolis to be with his LadyLove, Joyell Smith, for a family wedding. Not a bad way to end the summer!