A letter from a reader

Karen: Blessings from Montana. There is a cool breeze wafting through my office window, gently rattling the blinds. It also carries relief from the thick smoke that had settled here coming from fires that burn thickly 200 miles away. I know there has been much on the national news about the fires, but I haven't heard much mention that something all of us who live in the mountains learn from a very young age. That is that fire is a natural part of life here. In fact, there are conifers in this land that can reproduce only after heat pops the seed in their cones. Man may have seen the beauty of the mountains and claimed it for his own, building communities, cabins, second homes on this wild land. But nature has the upper hand here. It needs the fire to clear, renew and resurrect, and man cannot prevent it.

I send this analogy because I feel somehow there is a connection between what must be happening with you and the chemical fire in your body in a hospital room in Arizona, and the wild, cold beautiful land far to your north. The fire will end. Renewal will come soon. And it will be even the more sweet and beautiful because of the challenges that caused it. Thanks again for continuing to enrich the lives of so many of us. You have helped me grow through the two most devastating years of my life and through my prayers I hope I can help you through your battle. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Carol Schmidt Bozeman, Montana