Fortunate Son

God's dice always have a lucky roll. -- Sophocles

I am amazed at how fortunate that I am to be alive. An alive, observant, living and engaged participant in the ether surrounding my flesh. Not just at this moment in the slipstream of time, but an aware and sentient being, able to process the universe surrounding me. I spend time decoding the patterns of life that I encounter moment upon moment of my life.

I see stars in the night sky and wonder why they choose to share their perfection with us, with me. How sensuous a rain drop feels when it dances across the skin on a hot and humid day. How butterflies can stay adrift with the way their wings move still baffles me. I could look it up and get a scientific explanation, but it wouldn’t take away the amazement seeing them offers me.

Just the other night a brutal thunderstorm raged over my house and filled me with wonder and fear and surprise. The lighting was so close you couldn’t see the bolt, just the blinding white of the savaging electricity. The thunder rolled and struck and shook the window frames that I leaned on as I watched. The rain fell less like drops and more like when you stand under a waterfall. It was a fury. I sensed it wanted to kill me. It was seeking a victim and grabbing at the ground and the trees and the electrified air. How lucky I felt to be surrounded by my house, grounded against the nasty ranting of the tempest.

But this night I was lucky. I was safe and was protected to consider another day.

Others have not lived as long or shared a banquet of life like I have. Sudden deaths. Lingering illness. Random, violent taking of life. War. Genocide. Disease. These things razor away the opportunities for beings to be lucky to live and see to their fullest the great mysteries surrounding us.

I have escaped so far what have ended many a soul’s existence. I don’t say that because I feel special, it is more an observation of how unique each of our experience of time here on earth is felt.

So maybe a roll of the dice by God is why I ended up where I am. A lucky roll. A fortunate son of God. So far. And I won't  measure my luck by how I end, but how I got there.