Daily writing prompt

Write about your approach to budgeting.

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We’ve worked with a budget mindset, but only in the broadest sense. There has never been a formal plan, one where we sit down on a regular basis and talk things over or chart things out. Somehow, we made it through all the years of paying too high a percentage of monthly income on a mortgage, but not without occasional animated discussions and frayed nerves.

Budgeting has always been my Achilles heel, much to my wife’s chagrin. I understand the wisdom of it, I guess, along with the importance of saving for a rainy day, but I’ve never really taken it to heart. Fortunately, I had a built-in savings plan during my years in the ministry, with money being set aside for a pension, along with what had accrued in the way of a monthly Social Security benefit. If my retirement had been solely dependent on disciplined personal savings, we would be in trouble. Or I’d still be working.

As things stand now, and perhaps all along, I have lived with a sort of financial radar, some level of awareness regarding our financial limitations, or what we have to work with on a monthly basis. I pay attention to income v. expenses, but I will always be dealing with an inner voice that’s grown from a whisper to something more audible: “You only live once, and you’re not getting any younger.”

To be honest, I’ve always lived with a mix of selfishness and throwing caution to the wind, when it comes to things fiscal.

Daily writing prompt

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

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I used to be a “love it or leave it” guy, I guess– back in my Boy Scout days– but then things got more complicated and I started reading books, listening to different opinions, doing a bit of traveling, seeing things for myself.

I wouldn’t consider myself patriotic right now. I still root for the American athletes at the Olympics but am much less disappointed if they don’t do well. And given the current leadership and combative atmosphere in this country, patriotism is a word I associate with ignorance and hubris. It gets thrown around and misused, or used as a weapon to threaten conformity to an authoritarian, Christian Nationalist agenda I have no desire to support.

So, no, since my understanding of patriotism comes with a layer of introspection and critique that the current administration likely finds aggravating, distasteful, and somehow unpatriotic.

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

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A couple of speeding tickets locally, and a pleasant warning from an officer of the law when we were walking through the streets of Cheyenne, WY– for j-walking.

The speeding tickets really got me hot under the collar. They came in relatively rapid succession, and cost me money I could think to spend in at least a hundred better ways. And I guess it wasn’t totally unintentional, though I wasn’t trying to get a ticket. It’s just that the speed limit in the areas of infraction seemed and continue to seem almost ridiculously low.

Daily writing prompt

If there were a biography about you, what would the title be?

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A Mixed Bag.

Or maybe If Only…, or Highs and Lows and In-betweens

I don’t really know.

Daily writing prompt

What were your parents doing at your age?

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It’s a bit tough to sort out, since there was a 6-year difference between Mom and Dad. Until Dad started experiencing the vicissitudes of advancing age in his late 70s/early 80s, they were relatively active.

My Dad had been retired for a few years by the time he was 72, but my Mom was still working as a part-time music person at our church’s nursery school, and she would fill in as organist on occasion. She still had a few piano students.

They’d visit family in Connecticut, make an occasional trek to Maine or Florida, spend a week at the church camp in New Hampshire, or, more infrequently, visit my brothers and families in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Dad loved to golf, so he would get out at least once a week with a few guys from church. When she wasn’t at church, Mom was content to stick around the house, always ready to welcome folks who would stop by and have a cup of coffee and shoot the breeze.

When they were my age, they were both still quite active.

Daily writing prompt

If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

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I would revisit the balance of power, in hopes of keeping the Executive branch in check. The current officeholder at the top, and those around him, are always looking for loopholes, benefitting from a predatory reading of things and making a shambles of the role of Congress– basically ignoring laws whose intent has always been to maintain a certain order and keep the fabric of society from fraying to the point of chaos and anarchy.

A close second would be a crusade for changing the current tax structure to be more equitable across income levels– since federal funding has always mattered when it comes to programs focused on infrastructure and health maintenance and improvement, along with research grants and a spectrum of societal needs that benefit from a dependable financial shot in the arm.

Daily writing prompt

Write about your dream home.

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The dream hasn’t changed much since I wrote about this last year. My dream home would be modest by most standards, but well-conceived and functional. Energy-wise, it would draw upon geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels, with a gas fireplace for added warmth and a certain redundancy. The house would be laid out in a thoughtful manner, with a large kitchen, sunken living room with ample seating, a baby grand piano, a dining area with seating for 14. Three or four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a sewing room, a finished basement with a TV/audio room. There would be an attached woodshop, maybe an acre and a half to two acres of well-drained land, mostly level, on high ground. Plenty of room for a patio and pergola, space for outdoor activities, a couple of large shade trees and lots of garden space, along with a bit of grass to mow.

Unlikely to ever happen, but fun to think about. I guess that’s what makes it a dream home.

Daily writing prompt

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

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Church attendance comes to mind, and it’s more a matter of losing interest than outgrowing it. This has created an interesting dynamic, because a part of me misses the ritual and cyclical routine– the seasonal markers that delineate any given year.

But something else has emerged, which is characterized by doubt and fatigue. When we do attend somewhere, the liturgy and message are mostly uninspiring anymore, as if I’ve heard it all before, nothing changes, and its relevance is lost. Certain elements are timeless, but this origin story is relatively ancient, in some respects not aging very well.

And it didn’t help to read Sapiens.

Daily writing prompt

What’s your favorite candy?

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Candy is not often part of the diet anymore, but if there’s any dark chocolate around, I’d enjoy a piece of that. On occasion, Aldi will carry a package of delights that look like dark chocolate Pringles with Rice Krispie-like crunchy bits mixed in. So good.

Sweet Tarts are a distant second.

Daily writing prompt

Do you need a break? From what?

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Funny you should ask.

Yes, from winter. We’ve actually had one this time around, and it’s getting old. Especially the wind, which just adds insult to injury, rubs salt in the wound. Fifty years ago, I would have made lemonade, but not anymore.

I’m thankful for electricity and a warm place out of the elements. And for diamond art, my new vice.