Perspective

Yesterday at the Grand Canyon, my husband took the above picture and sent to a friend with the title "Perspective".  Traveling through the American Southwest with its geological wonders does tend to make you think about perspective.  We stopped in a dinosaur museum in Blanding, Utah run by archeologists who have found,  in the triangle area near the Four Corners, evidence of life hundreds of millions years old.  One petrified tree we saw was 275 million years old. When you realize how long the rocks we see and even life has been on this planet, you understand that human history is de minimus in comparison.  All those problems we have in our lives should be put in perspective.

I have been suffering from some minor physical discomforts on this trip which I will not describe (TMI) but which are unfortunately distracting me. While feeling sorry for myself this morning,  I got hit with another dose of perspective.  I just found out that another friend of mine is gravely ill.  He is on life support having suffered a heart attack during chemotherapy.  This man was a brilliant chemist and a very active member of our community.  He got me involved in the board of the youth soccer league and I ultimately took over his job as regional commissioner.  He was also very active in his church, which I attended for a while, largely to sing in the choir but also to search for some spirituality that I never found but my friend had in abundance.  His life was steeped in service.  His family intends to take him off life support tonight and I am so sad that I have not had the opportunity to spend more time with him.