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Blogs by D L Johnson
The Shadow Knows For Sure 3/15/2007 1:43:19 PM
This is part of an upcoming essay I'm working on. I'll admit at the very beginning that the title has nothing to do with todays blog. I've always felt that the statement had dark ominous sounds to its title.
What I want to talk about is how sometimes, in our darkest hours we forget about the world around us. This includes our families, jobs, friends and everything else that can be included.
I have a friend whom I have not seen in some time. He lives in Eugene, Oregon and I live in Seaside, Oregon, a distance of close to 200 miles. My friend, I'll call him Larry is a bright guy, well spoken, very easy going and all in all you could say Larry would make a great beatnik, now there's a word from a few years back, for those not sure just go ask your parents.
Larry and I would get together over coffee and he would bring me up to date on the comings and goings of his family. His wife taught at the local community college and his two kids both attended University of Oregon. Larry would somehow take the conversation to how hard it is to send two kids at one time to a very expensive school. All I could do is empathize, I sure wasn't going to volunteer to pay their tuition.
Before I forget, I should say that Larry's profession is that of a therapist; or as I like to prefer his title as that of a 'shrink wrapper.'
One day when we met, I started telling Larry about my pitiful life. No new romance, job sucks, still as poor as the last time we met and feeling like I'm the worlds biggest piece of crap. Larry stopped me half way through my rant and said; 'hey man, look at that sunset!' Living in Oregon we have access to some of the best sunsets in the world, and this day was no exception. The colors in the sky matched with the dark clouds to the west and the brightness of the sun as it set against a fall sky, was totally mezmarizing.
As we sat in silence Larry said that sometimes when we think we're carrying an unbearable load, it might be advantageous for us to look at the simple, less complicated happenings taking place before our very eyes.
This for me was a simple lesson in that no matter how tough I think my life is, we need to take the time to appreciate the small things, afterall, it is the small things that really count.
