No, these are not UFOs, or a picture of what awaits us on the other side of the rainbow bridge, the terminus of that "bright tunnel of light" so routinely reported by those who have undergone a "near-death" experience. Rather, it is a photograph of the lithograph that hangs on the wall of the waiting room at my Physical Therapist's office, with the two banks of overhead florescent lights reflected in the framed glass. But it COULD be that other place, at least in my imagination... with the moored boat, and the lighthouse, lots of lawn for Parker to run on, and a waterfront cottage filled with books. It could be that place....
Not that I'm planning to visit that place anything soon. The imagination is a wonderful thing. Yes, it allows us to see things that aren't really there: to view images of realities that exist only in our minds, and then (perhaps) to make those things real. "If you have built castles in the air," Thoreau writes, "your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." These days, a good portion of my time is devoted by necessity to that first endeavor. But I still have hopes of building a solid foundation as well, so that these bold visions might have a solid base to sustain them. Then I really will feel like I have accomplished something important with my life.
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