Eric Grey

Above is an image of the Columbia River Gorge. I drive through it on the way to one of my "obligations" every week.

Ok, here it is.  I wake up at 5:15ish am.  It's dark.  It smells like woodsmoke, and a messy bed and too much laundry and happy animals.  I have tea.  I have some more tea.  I eat a breakfast concoction that would sicken some of you with its utter healthiness and heartiness.  I go for an absolutely splendid walk in the dark.  People are just waking up.  There are fires being lit.  The trees drip with the mists they snatched from the sky.  I hear things moving - flying things.  Crawling things.  I walk fast.  I see the first hint of sunrise.  I get my blood moving. I get home - noone is awake.  I spend the morning reading about Qing Dai (Indigo) a Chinese herb that I am quickly learning to love.  I realize that my day consists of the following:

(1)  Heading to my mentor's house where I will soak in intense amounts of immediately useful and enlightening information.  This activity will be preceded by a leisurely drive through some of the prettiest country of which I am aware.

(2)  Coming home to eat a homemade lunch with my sweetheart.

(3)  Getting some material ready for the herbs class I'm teaching in the afternoon - consists mainly of doing what I love best - reading about herbs and thinking about herbs.

(4)  Going to teach said herbs class, which is riotous fun.  But first, I go pick up some herbs and talk to one of my favorite people in the world - Michael Givens - friend and colleague, who will give me a hard time about the Qing Dai thing.

(5)  Heading home to study some herbs, make some dinner, and do some building of my clinic's online presence.

Yesterday, I was talking to Amanda - we were feeling a little put upon about one thing or another.  Then I said, "You know what, here's the thing - we're living the life we wanted to live!"

We may not be rich (or even, you know, totally paying the bills), we may not always love every single thing we're doing.  But we are doing it.  We chose a path, and now we're walking it.

It brings tears to my eyes to think of how lucky I am.