HEADING WEST INTO SETTING SUN

Mary Beth was released from the hospital today in Orlando about 4:00 pm and after a short visit with my sister Laura, who will remain in the hospital until early next week, we made our way west on I-4 to Sarasota.

As I drove west, with MB laying down in the back seat, the setting sun put on quite a show. The full orange sun, looking so big and brilliant, was right in front of us as if showing us the way. My first reaction was to remember that our Mother Earth is just a tiny orb flying through space. I tried to look past all the rushing cars, the big highways, the neon lights, and the buildings on either side of the road. All I wanted to think about was that I am just another person in the great span of time living here on our planet. I am just a speck in time, a grain of sand on the ocean floor, and what an incredible gift our short lives really are. Long before the modern distractions the people spent much time reflecting on their place in the universe. We do little of that today.

We are staying at the home of MB's brother Jimmy in Sarasota. He owns two restaurants in the community and spends much time dealing with keeping them running. We will largely have the house to ourselves as MB's sister-in-law Anna moved to Arizona to help create a health spa with her sisters near the Mexico border. Jimmy is now trying to sell their house in Sarasota but the housing market is slow these days.

Our time here will be spent with MB resting and taking short walks trying to rebuild her stamina after the operation. The weather is in the low 80's here and we heard today that snow is expected back in Maine this weekend. After having lived for 30 years in Florida I can say with all sincerity that I'd rather be in Maine shoveling snow but here is where we are for now.

We will stay here until the end of next week when we have to return to Orlando for MB's final check up before we can return to Maine.

Laura is doing very well, it appears that the new kidney is working quite nicely, and her spirits are high. Her room is filled with visitors and today our cousin Claudia who lives on Florida's east coast was visiting so it was nice to briefly see her before we left.

I will spend my time keeping up with my emails and working on doing an update to my book that was published in 2005. I've already identified some of my writings from the past two years that I want to put in the book and will need to edit them. I've run out of books, having sold 1,000 so far, and thought it made sense to bring the book up-to-date before getting more copies printed. All proceeds from the book go to the Global Network.