Police officers shoot people.
People shoot police officers.
"There will be wars and rumors of wars ... these things will happen ... but the end is not yet."
It's pretty shitty news to wake up to on one's birthday.
It all started nicely enough with the sun bubbling out of the Gulf of Mexico, creeping out of bed so Sarah and the girls can sleep, stumbling into the sand in bare feet to get coffee and taking my seat on the tiny deck under the Palm Trees.
Opening my tiny computer, I find the cards Sarah and the girls left and they warm my heart and make me cry joyful tears.
I stream music from a playlist my son Jeremy made for me and am thankful for how much I have in my life.
A giant green and blue Iguana meanders up, nods his head wishing me "Happy Birthday" too.
It's a damn nice start.
Then I see the latest news of "Us" against "Them" and am again saddened of how we have become such a divided nation ... where there is a Party of the "Right" opposed by a Party of the "Wrong" ... and lives of color matter more than the colorless ... and everyone feels justified at the expense of everyone else.
Strolling down to the water, I feel of the cool refreshing salt water and am baptized in the incredible yellow glow of the rising sun.
Looking down, the Iguana has brought friends to my party and they follow as I peak inside to check on my sleeping girls.
"But the end is not yet," the Bible says, "regardless of the wars and the rumors" ... of the killing of the "Us" and the "Them" ... of senseless deaths regardless of color ... and the mindless dogma of "Right" and "Wrong."
The End is not yet.
And a breeze blows from somewhere out in the Ocean, rippling the water of the Gulf, making the Palm Trees dance and cooling me in a tingly, salty delight.
My friends the Iguana scurry away, leaving me alone with these things on this, my birthday.
