We live in a miracle and tend to forget this fact due to our having experienced a few short years of the mysterious event. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west…and we say, ‘I have seen sunrises and sunsets before.’ Christmas comes with all of its joy and holiday pleasure and we think…’I have experienced better Christmases.’ We gain a friend…and then we lose them…and we plan on getting another. We listen to mom and dad talk in their quaint colloquial manner…and we forecast the next statement that will come out of their mouth…then their mouth is silenced and we so much would like to hear their stories…one more time. Next year we will take a trip to Europe…or we will travel to Maine to see the leaves change or we will read more and write and hike through the woods…

Identity is our core reason for living. One of us is the political leader…while the other is a leader in Academia. Another of us has given our life to the company or the university or the church…when that falls away…we have no foundation…no frame of reference for our existence.

Right and wrong are important. For many of us, God is a God of Wrath and Judgment and Furry for the evil doers…of course, we are not the Evil Doers…it is those malcontents over the fence who are guilty. Conservative is right…don’t you know…those who are not conservative are standing on the gaping maw of Hell. Liberal is right…don’t you know…and the uneducated among us and the unwashed do not have a valid reason for feeling unloved and unwanted and unseen by the powerful and the political elites and the Academy…

The brown dried leaves crunched under the feet of Billy B. He had watched almost daily the transformation of the green leaves to vibrant colors and then to brown and then to cascade to the ground. Billy B. loved the woods! He loved the solitude of the surroundings. He enjoyed hearing the woodpecker tap…tap…tap on the trees. He loved the constant changing of the clouds. Billy B. loved the movement of the Sun. After the rain…the dry creeks were full of moving water. The sound that they made was luxurious.