Since I can only have one, it might be elemental manipulation. A region needs rain? Coming right up. Another needs a break from sub-zero cold or endless high temperatures? Break out your shorts and margaritas or bundle up. Of course, such drastic reversals would probably generate their own adverse effects, but maybe the power is so complete that I can maintain a healthy balance.
Tag: dailyprompt
Elusive
Great question, but the only thing coming to mind is always wishing for clarity when it came to what I should do with my life. I still feel like I missed some hints, missed out on a moment when things crystallized, and revelation provided a path forward with regard to the work I should occupy myself with in order to make a living.
I did end up as an ordained Lutheran pastor for 26 years, but never really felt comfortable in that position, like this was my “destiny,” even though others gave me affirmation along the way and told me this was where I needed to be. Instead, I often found myself wishing some other direction was taken, some other door had opened, because most days I felt like a fish out of water.
I wish I could have been like the folks who somehow “know” from early on that they will be a doctor, or an athlete, or a musician. I never had that clarity, or a sense of assurance that I was where I was supposed to be. But maybe that’s more rare than it’s made out to be. Maybe that’s not how it works, anyway.
Maybe it’s more about following a dream and putting in the work.
Now that I’ve been writing for a while, I realize that life itself is often a mystery to me. Why are we here? Since we have the wherewithal to ask that question, it’d be nice to have an answer that satisfies, that stops in its tracks this endless inquiry.
Admiration, Advice, and Inspiration
My wife, my siblings and most of their spouses, our children and their spouses, our neighbor next door, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Colbert, Albert Einstein, Paula Poundstone, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Paul McCartney and all the Beatles– and George Martin; Alanis Morissette, Jon Stewart, Desi Lydic, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, Alexei Navalny, Jon Leavitt, PoliticsGirl, JoJofromJerz, Pope Leo, Rachel Maddow, Brian Tyler Cohen, Leonardo DaVinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Jim Lovell, Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, Gene Kranz, Harper Lee, Jonas Salk, most any ER doctor, RNs who take their job seriously, our GP, a good mechanic, a good carpenter or plumber or electrician, and a couple of local farmers who work as hard as anyone I’ve ever known and are the personification of what people must mean when they use the phrase “salt of the earth.”
I’m sure I’ll think of others after submitting this.
Civic Duty
More often than ever, even the local ones. By mail, like our dear President.
Value
A morning routine, our marriage, home improvements, involvement in the lives of our children and grandchildren.
Vocationally, there is nothing of which to be mindful anymore. Now I have to be more self-motivated, have a to-do list. When I was a pastor, there was always something to be mindful of, something to work on, another visit to make. But in retirement, the onus falls on me to generate movement and activity and any sense of direction.
I guess I’m not nearly as concerned with a sense of direction now, though a sense of purpose and meaning still looms large.
Pearls II
2500
Yuletide Cheer
I guess it would still be Christmas. Apart from the rampant commercialism that begins in September or maybe before, I still appreciate the music and a few of the holiday movies, the get-togethers, and the overall atmosphere.
It lost its childhood magic a long time ago, but some of the mystery remains. Those formative early years cast a long shadow, and I still try to get my head around a virgin birth and a Savior come to earth.
The Great Outdoors
Yes, many times. We started with my parents and grandparents, heading to places in New Hampshire, Vermont, Cape Cod, the Berkshires. It was pretty rustic, as I recall– a big old canvas tent, Coleman stove. Nothing fancy.
We did quite a bit of camping when I was in Boy Scouts, and I got to go to Philmont Scout Ranch, in Cimmaron, New Mexico, in 1968. On occasion, we’d head to the White Mountains and stay at different camp sites, which usually included a climb of one mountain or another.
And we did a bit of camping with our own kids, most often at places in New York state–Watkins Glen State Park became our favorite. And there was one multiple-night stay at a KOA in Canada, near Niagara Falls. No wild treks, but enough to create a few memories.
Task Completion
:)
Variations on the happy face, a heart, a coffee cup, and thumbs up. Sometimes I’ll list a whole mess of different ones just because, in an attempt to be intentionally over-the-top, I guess. I’ve never used the poop emoji, but I can imagine certain instances where it might capture how somebody is feeling.
3 Cents' 