Is blessed a one-syllable or two-syllable word?

It was three months ago today that I arrived in Kauai with the intention of living here for a year and seeing how I liked it. So far so good. It’s a fascinating place; Everything here seems so unlikely. In this part of the world the ocean is the main event. Land is a freakish anomaly. It was the last place on earth to be discovered and populated by humans and sometimes it seems like we aren’t really meant to be here. We are land creatures after all and the territory which surrounds these tiny islands for thousands of miles in every direction is totally inhospitable to us. Maybe theses islands belong to the sea and we are just trespassers.

But if this is the forbidden island then there has never been a more tempting place to trespass. Hawaii seems as if it were made specifically for humans to enjoy. The climate is ideal and healthy living seems to come naturally here. And it’s not just physical health, the landscape just seems to inspire a more spiritual attitude.

And then there are the people. They seem a bit like flukes, too. It seems like everyone I have met here, even those born here, are people who have experienced some kind of random streak of good luck and decided to go with it. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just seeing myself in them. I guess the short version is to say that the place and the people seemed to be blessed.

Bless is a level one Cleric spell in Dungeons & Dragons. It’s not a very powerful spell; even a novice cleric can master it. It just gives who ever the Cleric chooses a “+1.” That orc still might defeat you in battle or you still might no be able to find that secret door, but you’ve got just a little bit better shot at it if a cleric has cast bless on you. So maybe that’s how it is here. You’ll find all the challenges and joys of being human just as you would any other place but there’s a +1 that makes everything just a little better.