As we all know, life never stops. Not unlike anyone who has tried to sustain a habit over years and years I’ve let my writing lapse here recently. But I’ve decided with the advent of a new job and a major shift in my schedule approaching that I should try and get back to something that I think makes my life better in every way. And that to be quite frank is just this. The expression of my experiences on a screen written for the anonymous few and perhaps one or two that I might know.
I’ve seen and experienced quite a bit over the last few years from returning from my trip down south to Australia to several nights spent under desert skies. I lost my job as a bartender due to Covid-19. I’ve started a new career as an EMT and have been working at Boulder Community Hospital since April of this year.
I’ve seen death a few more times up close and personal. I’ve been a part of the start of a beautiful relationship with an amazing woman. I’ve lived with my youngest sister Emma for the last year and learned that I have so much to learn about communication. I got a god damn dog. Her name is Echo and she is the fucking best thing thats happened to me. Even if she really pisses me off by eating my approach shoes and ripping up a potted plant on my bed while I work the night shift at the hospital. I’ve been able to climb, ride my bike, go running, and hike my favorite mountains regularly.
Recently I’ve witnessed the beauty and awful destruction of the wildfires ravaging Colorado. The sunsets have never been more beautiful or more terrible. The smell of smoke has for the last week clung to my clothes, perforated every inch of my living space, contaminated the hospital. The ash rains from the sky so much that my truck looks more gray than black. The flames glow orange over Boulder burning homes of friends and strangers alike. More people everyday are evacuating their homes taking precious little as they wait to find out whether or not they have to start part of their lives over.
But thats fire. Thats always been fire. It burns what lies in its path, ravages whatever stands before it. And yet, oddly enough makes the areas it “destroys” all the better for it. Large forests burn completely to the ground only to be replaced by small shrubs and then small trees. Over time a healthier more balanced ecosystem begins to be recognizable as the pine forest or the from grasslands before. Homes can be rebuilt lives continued. But for a brief moment in time a scar is placed on the land as a reminder of the power and the force of nature. But in these particular times these dark marks left by fast moving fires are urgent reminders that what we have taken for granted really can’t be ignored anymore.
Life hasn’t stopped. Not for me and not for any of you either. The world keeps turning- keeps burning. Living life is just as hard as its ever been and also just as beautiful. I’m determined to continue to see the world and my life they way I always have and recognize that after every fire there grows a healthier more beautiful forest. I also am determined to write about it. So here in the next several weeks I’ll finish updating my stories from Australia, I’ll add some tales of around town and home, and then I’ll keep writing about whatever I need to.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being you.
the1eyedchronicles 