Time... and the Gift of Sight...

This is preface to how fast time flies at this point in my life..... And about the gift of sight.... I find it so funny that when I was *almost* twenty one {1962, but who's counting!} that year was sooo long. Please take a moment...particulary those of you say, over fifty... and think about this. If you live in a country that celebrates the winter holiday season, think about how long it took from January of any year when you were a child until the next holiday season. When I was a child that amount of time was inconceivable . I chose the arbitrary age of fifty plus above, because no matter what you believe now...if you aren't a "senior citizen" type, you will not be able to truly understand that youth is wasted on the young. It's like being born blind...there is no way one can understand the color green if you've never been sighted. I have found myself very real life busy these last few days and this morning before I had to go out again I took time to look at Twitter, E-mail, blogs, and log in world for a few to make sure Benares was still on the grid and nothing was "on fire". One thing I noticed was that I hadn't posted anything here in a couple days... and I really don't like to go three plus days. I know there are a couple of former residents of Benares that, while they aren't currently in world...they still feel "a part of " our Benares family and use this blog to kinda keep a virtual eye on the family they are a part of. I love how things seem to work out well if I don't get too involved. I say that because this morning, as I was driving around, I was wondering what I wanted to say here.... Returning a few hours ago I read this from AlexHayden Junibalya and the answer for a topic was obvious. Bye the time 1958 came along, I know now that I was a Buddhist... I didn't know the label then, but today in retrospect I realize that Buddhism fit my spiritual path to come. My daughter was born in 1970 and in August of 1973 it became obvious to me that while not celebrating the religious winter holidays suited me just fine, the lack of a Christmas tree and all those trappings would be a burden on my child that I couldn't justify.......so come December... we had to have a tree. Kindra had asked all early December if she would get a tree and if Santa would come. We put that tree up on Christmas eve after our child went to bed....and on December 25th Kindra woke up, came flying into the living room, slid to a stop on her knees about one meter from a beautiful tree surrounded by presents. I sat down beside her just looking at her face...she was totally transfixed by that tree....I saw Christmas through the eyes of a child for the first time............I was nearly thirty one. Thank you Alex for reminding me of that. Somewhere back in time there was a song lyric that went, "Just because you can see the stars doesn't mean you can see the light". So often today, we are all so convinced that we have the only true answer...to anything. Sometimes the true meaning of what is really important can be seen in the face of a child watching the sky...or a tree at Christmas And so it goes Gently My love to all...even the blind of heart, brinda Namaste नमस्ते