If we are lucky, we have those rare moments where life is like a good story….when all else fades to quiet gray and we become lost in the moment; engulfed in absolute emotion.

“I can’t quit smiling” I heard him say, as my daughter’s boyfriend looked around at the rocky peaks as we rode above the tree-line. I smiled as I told him I was jealous….there is no feeling like that first time you experience the West with its expanse, wonder, and beauty. The smile on his face made it worth the trip.

I remember thinking a while back that there is no Fairy Tale life….but there can be fairy tale moments. Moments filled with more blessings than we deserve. Such as watching our children’s faces as they land wild trout at 10,000 feet, as we stand on the edge of a mountain with the love of our life, or as we ride a horse through solitude of a Wyoming landscape. These are the rare moments in which we get to feel momentary perfection…and then..

…the moment of perfection transcends into the memory of a life well loved, of a blessing surely not deserved, and of an experience that ended too quickly.

Sometimes I wonder who would want to read another story. Who really cares what another experiences as they journey this life. Then I remember, tucked away in a tote in my house, there is a little notebook that contains hand written stories over fifty years old. Stories of wonder and adventure. Stories of new places and people I never met. Stories that really happened. Stories lived by someone I loved and who is now gone.

…and I am reminded that it is only The Story that offers immortality to the life we lived here.

Go write a story.