Welcome to a, Love LIFE short share. This one is called, Sunrise at Dawn.
Life is short, love it.
July 18th was my 40th birthday. Facing an ever mounting legion of pressing issues, I felt I could not justify much birthday attention. I mentally excused this, suggesting to myself that it was true that 40, is now nothing more than the new 32. I voiced it in my head something like, f-it; flow onward and move along man. In retrospect, what I discovered was actually authentic for me, was that I did not honor a true milestone. Yes, I am young, and I really am getting older. This knowledge of my aging is bearing fruit in the form of sentimentality. Sentimentality is feeding something really important, my heart. My heart longed to get a second chance to celebrate my forty years.
After my birthday, I left on a work trip and was gone for a week. I returned from my trip and inside the mailbox was a missed delivery notice and based on the date scrawled on the top, it had been there awhile. What did I order?
I moved on four wheels to hit up the post office. As I drove along I begin to feel different. I realized I didn't order anything at all, and simultaneously I began to feel good, real good. A vision of my good friend of many years hovered in my mind's eye as I realized exactly what the package was.
Yes! I walked away from the counter with a beautiful brown box under my arm. The package was addressed, to : My best Friend, from : Love itself, Happy Birthday!
I made myself a special dinner and waited for my girlfriend to emerge from the shower. She sat with me on floor cushions at a low table in my favorite part of the house. I opened the package of treats, read the beautiful card aloud and we celebrated my belated forty. I got my second chance. I felt in love with life.
Specific details of what was in that box are the subject of a parallel post, soon to arrive. The box was filled with care and with birthday cheer and there was an angel inside. (Also, I did eat from that box, the single best 8 day old gluten free doughnut I have ever had.)
Life is short love it
Later that night, with a pleasant fullness, I decided to dial up steemit.com. I had published a photography post earlier and it was gaining steem. It was not gaining steem anymore, it was boiling over. It was dare I say, baller!
My first post to go over my top, I had one hundred votes; I had over one thousand in money.
I had trouble sleeping, or rather; I woke up very early and was wide awake. Although my girlfriend had her back to me, I could feel that she was also awake. I tapped her shoulder and we decided to get up and go for a walk. It was beautiful outside this morning and it was her birthday, July 29th.
Walking together toward a big open field to watch the sunrise at dawn over the Sandia Mountains, I know we both felt beautiful.
In these photos, I am the photographer and she is the light. Those are the arms of both of us, raised in gratitude and celebration. In celebration of getting out early, in celebration of her birthday, in celebration of my birthday, in celebration of my post and the people who appreciated it and most significantly, in celebration of the experience of the sun rising, and that it is so magnificently foxy.
Life is short love it
This evening for her birthday we attended a show. We love the group "Over the Rhine", and the lead husband and wife duo were playing as a twosome here in town. We sat for an hour with coffee and tea at Zendo, our favorite spot in town. I parked the car one mile from the venue and we got out to walk the rest of the way to the show. It had rained hard for a solid hour. The streets of Albuquerque were flooded with water and the sky flooded with rainbows.
- The rain here is beautiful.
Over the Rhine, is a magical band. Their lyrics and song writing are second to none.
"Like an ocean without waves You're the movement that I crave And in that motion I long to drown And be lost not to be found
You're my water, you're my wine You're my whiskey from time to time"
SONGWRITERS KARIN BERGQUIST, LINFORD DETWEILER
The set blew me away and they finished their encore with my favorite song "When I go", from their fantastic album, Films for Radio. Their album pictured above, "Ohio", is amazing.
- The past twenty four hours have been amazing.
In this love LIFE short share, I kept it short and shared. I am grateful for you. I would love to hear from you.
Life is short, love it.
All photography shot by me on 7-29-16. my blog 
Check out #lovelifeshortshare a brand new section. Read more short shares about loving life and write some of your own. They need not be profound, the only rule is they are about something that you love and then length is short-modest.