June 8
This afternoon is 80 degrees, dry, with a light breeze carrying the smell of sagebrush. A golden eagle glides low over the fields, and white, puffy cumulus clouds float lazily across a deep blue sky. The mountains hang on the horizon as beautiful and unreal as a painted backdrop. Truly we live in the most beautiful place on earth. I spend the afternoon in the garden, weeding and watering. It is a perfect day.
Last night, after we turned out the light, as we snuggled in bed as we always do before going to sleep, I found myself marveling at the life we have together. We have no debt, not even a mortgage on our home or land. My business brings in enough for us to live on without much difficulty, as long as we’re careful. We live in a postcard, with snow-covered mountains to the north, east, and west of us—a panorama nearly 270 degrees around. Half the world’s population lives on two dollars a day or less. Less than ten percent has internet access. Some five hundred million suffer from starvation or malnutrition. Seventy percent are illiterate, and the vast majority don’t even have a bank account. As Sarah’s breathing slowed, I felt the weight of her head against my chest. I realized, not for the first time, that she and I live a charmed life in an extraordinary world. Did we do something to deserve such special treatment, or was it just the luck of the draw?
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