The earth around here appears to be in a celebratory mood. I’m just back from our Friday hike and noticed that the spring growth was practically flinging itself up and out of the loamy soil.

The moss was glowing in a rather extra-terrestrial-like fashion. I was going to say it looked nuclear, but given that it’s Earth day, and that nuclear power is not exactly trending in a positive fashion…I erred on the side of caution in my description.

We hosted our book club last night. We were a smaller group than usual, but I think our conversation was pretty stellar. Then again, there were an awful lot of wine bottles in the recycling bin.

We discussed Cormac McCarthy’s book, The Road, a book I found to be unrelenting in its post-nuclear ash-covered dreariness…and yet, others in our group found it hopeful.

They saw hope in the father’s continued focus on parenting a young boy (who may, or may not, have been his son). There was something touching in that, and the portrayal of the almost-instinctual need to keep instilling and nurturing this boy for the future, even when the future looked so bleak.

Maybe that’s part of the message of the book: to persevere, to keep going no matter what and to invest our time and energy in the next generation. Our job is to do our best, instill hope and belief in a better tomorrow, and when it’s time, lay down on the beach and get out of the way.

I’m going to assume that most of you reading this are not quite ready to be shipped out on an ice floe so that means we still have work to do. Plant a tree, encourage a kid, grow some tomatoes, turn off the lights, walk, cycle or skip…oh yeh, and VOTE.

Imagine the future you want your kids to inhabit and vote and act accordingly.