Daily writing prompt

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

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Nothing is jumping out at me except the first baseball glove I ever had. My Uncle Freddie gave it to me and I used it from Little League all the way up to when I tried out for the high school team. I eventually got a new one because it was too small and used hard over the years.

I really can’t think of anything else, besides “souvenirs” I would take home from trips to different places– a rock, a pine cone, a shell, or something like that.

Daily writing prompt

What is your mission?

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Given the current goings on in America, I’d say to be an engaged citizen. I know how all this feels to me, and it doesn’t feel right. We’re being “led” by a cornered rat, a lying, self-absorbed, incompetent, immature, shallow, vengeful, and angry old man. And the people around him are awful for similar and different reasons.

Interesting time to be alive, to put it mildly.

Daily writing prompt

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

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Once most people reach the age of cognition, maybe they hope to stick around for as long as possible. My thoughts largely reflect this desire– as long as I’m able to fend for myself and not become a major burden to anyone. Quality of life has become a cliched catchphrase, but it does matter when one is talking about living a long time.

There is a difference between maintaining a certain vitality and merely existing, though in each case there may still be a drive to stay alive. Some people have a death wish and sometimes that wish is granted, but by and large, I believe folks prefer to not just survive but to live a long, satisfying life. Love, laughter, a certain autonomy, living free of strife and sickness and oppression, maybe even leaving their mark, leaving some sort of legacy. Or at least being missed when they’re gone.

Daily writing prompt

What could you do differently?

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Be less a creature of habit– I know that drives my wife a bit crazy. I could look for a part-time job, I could get involved in the community somehow, maybe find a singing group to join. I could be more intentional about finishing projects I’ve started, and be less afraid of making mistakes along the way.

In general, I could be less uptight.

Daily writing prompt

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

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The first thing that comes to mind is just a bit of text: To the 77 million: Still happy with your choice? Nothing else, just white text centered on a dark background. But I suppose that wouldn’t be the most judicious use of the space.

I keep coming back to the image I believe I used last year– a delicate flower growing out of a crack in the macadam, nothing else.

Daily writing prompt

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

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At this point, any future thinking revolves around plans to visit someone or do errands or go out to eat. Since my brother’s death this past May, I have been taking stock, trying to come to terms, maybe, with my own mortality and the fact that there is much less life in front of me than is now water under the bridge. It’s sobering, but I know I can’t live in that state. It’s rather depressing.

I still enjoy having something to look forward to, and the grandkids keep me grounded in the present. But this is tempered anymore by the realization that “Some day, I’m going to…” isn’t said with the same open-endedness, as if there will always be time to get to everything. Maybe there’s a heightened sense of urgency to pick and choose, and follow through.

2300

Daily writing prompt

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

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Besides the gifts of someone’s time and love and attention, it would have to be $5 million. Such a sum would probably take a few persistent concerns and headaches off the table.

I imagine that may sound shallow, but at this point in my life, an unexpected financial windfall seems more likely than me finding work I actually enjoy and for which I am well compensated.

Daily writing prompt

What colleges have you attended?

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Gustavus Adolphus College, in St. Peter, Minnesota, and the former Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which is now part of United Lutheran Seminary, a partnership and cooperative effort with the former LTS at Philadelphia, PA.

Daily writing prompt

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

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I occupy my time with things I enjoy doing, but don’t know as I’d consider it play. The grandkids are synonymous with playtime, though some of them are getting old enough to sit at a table and draw or assemble a Lego kit. Playtime is evolving, but there’s still plenty of hide and seek and piling on papa.

Daily writing prompt

What are your biggest challenges?

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Finding something to do, keeping a smile on my face, being blindly and unreasonably optimistic just because. It’s hard to smile when it looks like the world is heading for the dumpster.

Some might hazard a diagnosis of depression, but I’m not sure that would be accurate. I feel like it’s more that it’s difficult to look around at the leadership in this country and elsewhere, at certain trends, at the condition of the planet– among other things– and not be concerned, or angry, or frustrated, or pessimistic.

Maybe my biggest challenge, as a new year begins, is summoning the courage to add my voice and my being to the resistance. Finally take the plunge.