The Place Where You Are Now Is Vital

"The place where you are now is vital. Never avoid what you must face. Challenge your circumstances and steadily persevere. The path toward victory opens from where you stand."

 - Daisaku Ikeda

If autumn is anything to go by, winter at the Beachhouse is promising to be icy.  With money tight there has been none spare for firewood so we are dependent on the radiators - confining ourselves to ensuring they are on when the children are at home and digging out sweaters, beanies, and blankets.   The insulation is not great and most of the joinery needs repairing - all of which we knew  when we bought the Beachhouse- but we didn't know Den would lose a client or that the world would be turned on its head with the current recession. 

Now please don't get me wrong - I don't write that as a complaint - simply the acceptance that when we fell in love with the Beachhouse - things were different.  Not necessarily better - just different.  And if it's true that we all were hoping this was the beginning of better days - I suspect it's also true that each of us in their own way simply took it for granted that our hope would be realised.  I'm not sure any of us actually applied any faith, determination, prayer, or even action to even realising those hopes.   Each of us let their Buddhist activities dwindle to near non existant, and life became a monotonous repetition of daily grind.  Occassional bumps in the road served to remind us of what we weren't doing and eventually led us to realising we needed more in our lives.  

And as frustrating and as difficult as it may be -especially days like today when it is cold and there is little in the fridge -  this is the vital place  in which I find myself.   I must face that I am the leader in this little group and that I must set the pace.  If the path of victory opens from here it's time to take the first step.  

So for Dennis, Joshua, Elijah and Meg I would like to welcome you to the Beachhouse - a rambling old house by the beach filled with kids, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, Buddhism, Bruce Springsteen, tears, laughter and above all love.  Wrap up warm and fill your cup - money may be tight but there's always soemthing hot to sip - and come on in.