Just a little more than usual
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
The smell of a wood fire in winter, the smell of beef stew cooking on the stove, the smell of a Spring or Summer day, certain songs, visits to childhood haunts, looking at pictures taken years ago.
My marriage, our children and their children, my siblings, most of my in-laws, a couple of friends from my time as a pastor, and a couple of college buddies, who I’ve known now for over fifty years.
I guess it would depend on the sport. If it was football, maybe a mixture of royal blue and black– and I’d be sure to require that the actual team city/logo was visible and not a small patch that gets lost amidst all the advertising on the uniform.
If it was baseball, I’d probably go with white home uniforms and gray away ones, with a dark blue hat and red lettering.
Mascots are silly.
3 Cents' 