Greetings from Puerto Vallarta!! I am here to celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday. I came in a day early so I could have some time to myself. I am writing to you from the roof top of the villa I rented for the night. I will move to the house where I will stay with my friends later today. The picture to the right is what I currently see. The moon is still up, reflecting on the water while the sun rises behind me. There is a rooster crowing in the background and the waves are hitting the beach sending their rhythmic noises echoing off the hills behind me. All around birds are calling to one another. This moment is why I came down early – so I could have this moment for me.

When I first sat down to write I thought I would share with you all of the challenges I had getting here. Nothing really all that unusual, just the usual hassles that accompany flying on a busy holiday weekend. Then I realized, those moments are in the past, why re-live them, when I have the present and the present is alive and vibrant, full of color, sounds, and smells that will never come together in the exact way they are right now. This moment is all I have. I want to live and experience it to its fullest.

In addition to celebrating my friend Adam’s birthday, this trip is a personal/spiritual retreat for me. It will be filled with meditation, yoga, reflecting, reading and writing. I look forward to sharing with you what I learn along the way. For now, I am going back to the solitude of my sunrise.