Hello friends,

I took the train yesterday, from northern Oregon to the middle of Washington State, heading for a big reader conference called Lore and Luster, where I'll be selling books and meeting readers for two days. We crossed the Columbia River, and beheld the snow capped beauty of Mount Hood. We passed small old towns and countryside, brick buildings, and stands of trees.

Four astronauts just made a broad circuit around the moon, sending home photos of astonishing beauty, and pictures of their own faces, laughing. Despite all the woes on our planet, those images lifted my spirits. There is so much wonder to be had.

Like those astronauts, we are all moving through space, here on Earth. We traverse its surface and fly through the air. We all move through time, as well, forward and backwards, up and down.

We spiral together, assuming time is linear, when really? That is a theory, like the Big Bang, or any other. A theory of truth, calculations, and experience, peppered with speculation. But time is fluid, as well. Mutable. Changeable. Fast and slow...

The train I took moved inexorably forward, relying on track switches when it needed to change course. Time, though? Our experience of it sometimes moved forward, sometimes stalls, and other times, veers wildly off course. Any of these can become an opportunity, if we let it. What feels dull can morph into something that feels supportive. What feels at rest can show us how we need to move again. What feels wild and unpredictable opens doors to things we have never seen before.

We are all in a capsule, hurtling through space. Every one of us has a chance to experience what we never have before.

But we have to choose.

Best wishes — Thorn