Episode 15 -- Living a Life that Matters, part 1

With reminiscences of growing up on a dairy farm in Minnesota as a starting point, this episode wonders:  What really matters, and how do we know?  What does it mean to live a life that matters?  We find ourselves deep in paradox here:  that people and experiences, things and details, my life and yours can both not matter at all, and that they can at the same time matter infinitely and intrinsically.  The scattered details about the rhythms and routines of a particular dairy farm family set to the soundtrack of CCO radio playing in the barn, frozen pizza and rocky road ice cream and D&D adventures and a TV lawyer caring about folks on the margins:  none of it matters, and all of it matters.   This episode is an attempt – one of a collection of attempts over time and across several episodes – to try some ideas on for size.  To wonder aloud.  To sift through memory and story, panning for some grains or nuggets of possibility, to see if I can sit still and be quiet enough to catch even a fleeting glimpse of what matters.  And beyond that, to invite you ever so gently – softly, slowly now – to turn your gaze in the same direction so that we can share a glimpse together, without startling it back into hiding or scaring it into taking flight.