I ran out into the Andaman Sea. The beach ran out and as I met a series of giant boulders, I curved out into the warm sea. I literally kept running through water.

Behind me, lavender clouds. Before me, expansive sky streaked with yellow, orange. A setting sun.

Stopping, I threw my arms to the sky giving thanks to the Power much greater than us. I knelt, splashing water on my face.

“May I appreciate every single moment.”

How could I be anything but thankful when I wake up today on an island in Malaysia, motorbike around the sea, through mountains–past monkeys by roadside–to the ferry terminal, cruise across the sea and at nightfall end up conversing with a beautiful woman at a restaurant bar on an island in Thailand?