September 27

I was going to be lazy and write something like "So here I am, having survived another year, bloodied but unbowed..." Something normal.
But then I realize, taking everything into account, the bad that happened to me, the bad that happened to the people that I love, and all the good...
The strange, the difficult, the bottle-breaking, the surprising, the amazing, the thrilling, the quieting, the awe-inspiring, the wearisome, the unending---
It has all been a perfect gift. I would not change a thing. I wish there were more days in the year so that I could keep this pattern going just a little longer.

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.--Sir Winston Churchill