Just a little more than usual
Not sure, since it’s only for a day. On the other hand, if I come away from the experience feeling like it has some bearing on the rest of my life, then maybe it would be worthwhile.
So, maybe a professional golfer winning a big tournament, or a guide at Gettysburg NMP.
Almost three years ago, we re-did the half bath we have upstairs, from tearing out carpet (have never understood carpet in a bathroom) and toilet, to leveling the floor, to smoothing out the walls, to measuring, cutting, and installing new flooring, to painting walls and adding wainscoting and trim, to new plumbing connections, new toilet, new electrical outlets and switches, new towel and tp holders, fresh caulking, and a new mirror.
When nature calls, I sometimes still make the trip upstairs just so I can admire our work. We’d never taken on anything quite so ambitious, even though, in the larger scheme of DIY projects, it’s pretty modest.
In general, any word that becomes cliche, so over-used that it carries little to no weight anymore. Lots of words fit this category.
Narrowing it to one is difficult, but the first to come to mind is “devastated,” or “devastating.” People are devastated by so many things– clothes that don’t match, a favorite actor leaves a show, they ran out of maple syrup at Trader Joe’s. It’s misused or hyperbolized (not sure that’s a word) so often that when reporters or survivors at the scene of some natural disaster or a plane crash use the word where it actually fits, it loses some of its punch.
A close second is “traumatized.”
It’s hard to know for sure, but maybe to carry on as if I’m not bothered by what I see going on in the world; to carry on as if I have faith in humanity.
I know that’s dark, but lately– and for a while now— it’s been top of mind. I want to believe that we can acknowledge and learn from the past, be motivated by altruism and kindness on a global scale, but I suspect I will be challenged in fully embracing such optimism.
Sorry. I’d love nothing more than to be pleasantly surprised.
First off, I’d teach my teenage self to feel a pang of sympathy for the upperclassmen who pushed me into lockers between classes, since they may have already reached the zenith of their lifelong influence and notoriety.
As great an experience as college was, I might tell myself to look into a trade– maybe electrician– and forego the four years of higher education that was part and parcel of post-high school planning at the time. Maybe I would have gone to Vo-Tech, so I could study meteorology, if that was something offered. Maybe I would have ended up in college anyway, but better focused and more purposeful.
I’d tell myself to pay closer attention to and take to heart anyone who said to study hard, pay attention to the classes I take and whatever curriculum options might have been available at the time. I’d take my finances seriously! Maybe I would have studied the stock market more closely, learned how to invest and take calculated risks, buy some land as an investment, develop a certain financial acumen.
I would have insisted on guitar lessons. I’d have focused more intently on physical fitness, to the point of developing some lifelong habits. I’d have eaten better. I’d have listened more closely to the stories my elders were telling. I’d have told myself to learn as many words as possible, and how to use them to make a point and convey meaning.
Knowing what I know now, I’d tell myself to take certain things and people more seriously, to appreciate them in real time. I was a bit aimless, and still am.
People who complain about being bored– as if an ability to sustain one’s focus on one thing at a time is somehow messed up, and it’s up to the world and other people to feed them with constant variety and excitement.
And the 24-hour news cycle, with its insipid babbling and filling of airtime with raised voices and contrived drama. It both bores and agitates me, so I don’t watch much anymore.
I think the word “bored” itself bores me sometimes, and generally gets under my skin.
Non-alcoholic: coffee, and water; alcohol: a frosty IPA, or gin and tonic.
My wife and family, more specifically our kids and their kids, and spouses; my two brothers, with whom we Zoom every week and plan an annual get-together for golf and fishing; other family in New England; some cousins I grew up with, and a roommate from college. Laughter is often a theme, along with reminiscing and the latest medical updates.
It’s a small circle, for the most part.
I wear sneakers pretty much all the time– around the house, to the store, in the yard, up to New England, out to Colorado and Minnesota. Since being told I have plantar fasciitis, I’ve been wearing shoes from Hoka, Brooks, and Asics, and that ailment has pretty much gone away, or at least been kept at bay.
As for a favorite pair– it’s probably a tie between a pair of Hoka Bondi 8s and Asics Gel Nimbus 23s. Gotta keep the feet happy.
I’m sitting here racking my brain– is it a material gift, a person, or an insight? Something else?
There was the Weber combination charcoal and gas grill I got for Father’s Day one year. There was the ten-speed bicycle I got for graduating high school. There were gifts received off the Christmas list we always submitted when we were kids, but the details are long forgotten. The bike has long since returned to the earth. Still using the grill, though.
I don’t think I’ve ever received anything of a material nature that has dropped my jaw or left me speechless. Happy and grateful, for a little while, but easy to move on from until the next thing comes along.
The best gift was when she said “yes” on an October afternoon, many years ago.
3 Cents' 