For perspective, I go to Kinney Road, where the big sky puts all things in perspective, even the twists and turns of my life. Three our four times in the past few years, I’ve felt myself at profoundly significant turning points in my life. When I cracked up, when I fell into an awful dark space, when I ended a long marriage, when I found help, when I worked hard to get back on my feet, when I sent the animals away, when I took up fiction again, when I fell in love, and was loved back.

Now, here I am again. Getting married soon. Animals are returning. My novel is coming out in October. Children’s books next winter. Short stories and animal grieving book to follow. Photographs marking the way.

I am beginning to see that life is filled with turning points, some good, some bad. A life without them is, it would seem, without meaning.