As hurricane waters recede in Texas, wild fires chew through the Columbia Gorge here in Oregon. Accept the things I can not change: places I have loved, destroyed... people I have loved, gone. I have no control over these losses, nor the grief that wells up in me about them. Yet, I can choose to respond, rather than react. I can choose to be kind, to others and to myself. I can choose to feel and digest the suffering, versus numbing or acting out. I can choose to lend a hand where I can be of service. I can breathe and be grateful for what is still right, who is still here, what is not lost. I am a tiny drop in a universe that is constantly changing, shifting, evolving. I can choose to ride the wave, and love in spite of loss.