The Short Version

When I set up shop outside Starbucks at 5:15pm, I was hopeful, but over an hour later, nothing worth posting had happened on the screen.
Around 6:45pm, on my way to Goodwill to purchase a couple pairs of jeans, when I looked up at a gorgeous spray of pink clouds lingering at dusk I thought of a question to answer once I got back to my computer.
“Look at the sunset then look at me. Which is more beautiful?” “Me” in this case is any human being.
My answer is that a person is potentially more beautiful than the most magnificent sunset, or any other natural wonder. I’m not going to explain why because I’ve been trying to do just that since 8pm and I’m tired of deleting half finished thoughts that abruptly refuse to give up any more words to the cause of writing #28 of 30 posts in 30 days.
Instead I’ll tell you a story.
Ten years ago my dad was a house painter with a gift for detail and restoration. He was restoring a lovely old farm house in the middle of nowhere. He was temporarily living in the house, working sixty to seventy hours a week. He wanted his family to see his work, to walk us around the house and share his tales of frustration and wonder evident in each finished inch of wood and stone.
On a lonely country road in Illinois, on the way to his master piece, while I drove and my dad caught us up on his adventures so far, a cd played in the background…until track eleven. As one of my favorite songs began to play, my dad grew silent. Then he was in tears.
I believe most of us are doing the best we can at any given moment and we often hope that others will appreciate us just as we are. Here’s track eleven, in honor of the beauty in all of us.