Probably still Christmas. It’s easy to tap into the storehouse of memories, even if it doesn’t hold the same magic and mystique it once did. There’s still the music, the family time, the joy of watching the grandkids’ reactions to the small mountain of goodies under the tree. It still feels like a day that’s set apart– different from the rest, somehow.
Tag: dailyprompt
The Great Outdoors
Yes, many times. It started when we were kids. We’d go to Vermont or New Hampshire, use my grandfather’s vintage, old, musty, square, heavy canvas tent. We’d cook on the Coleman stove, swim in a brook, and generally enjoy being outside for extended periods of time.
Then I joined the Boy Scouts and we of course learned the finer points of preparedness and really got into equipment and cooking and all things camping. There were many overnighters and mountain trips to New Hampshire, along with hiking and camping in the Sangre de Cristo range of the southern Rockies at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.
We’ve since been with our own kids, but not for a while now. Watkins Glen State Park was a favorite spot.
Putting a line through it
When I can cross something off the To Do list. I have to make lists, anymore.
When I get the yard mowed and cleaned up, finish a woodworking project, spend some time practicing at the piano, get the year-end tax information gathered and delivered, pay a bill in full, bring the checkbook up to date, write what I consider a decent blog post, visit with the grandkids, help my son with his landscaping business, help around the house and cook a nice meal for my wife and I.
Mostly tangible stuff, where the progress or completion is easily marked, or seen– mowing, painting, cleaning, cooking, moving wheelbarrows full of mulch.
Church work was more nebulous, somehow, most days a more difficult milieu in which to assess progress or productivity. Easter always arrived at the end of Lent, of course, so at least we had that cyclical sense of movement toward a culmination and completion. But then the church year just moved on to the next theme. And peoples’ lives and situations and opinions were always evolving. Or stuck.
Lol
Happy face, thumbs up, heart, coffee mug, Christmas tree, various foods, golf-related. The poop emoji has come in handy a couple of times. Sometimes I string a whole mess of unrelated ones together, just for added emphasis or in a mostly vain attempt at being funny and over the top.
Music, too
Religion, sports, woodworking, the natural world, cars, technology, astronomy, farming, and whatever is on the grandkids’ minds. It seems it would be difficult not to have an opinion or two on current events– political, environmental, and otherwise.
The Big Move
I suppose some might feel that getting married is a risk, but I’ve never felt that way. I’m not a huge risk taker, I guess, but one I can think of is when we decided to head to seminary. We moved away from the area in which we grew up, not knowing for sure if certain things would fall into place and I would make it through the process. There are no regrets, though, other than the occasional lament that my sense of call has waned significantly since leaving Gettysburg.
In that moment…
Daily writing prompt
Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?
No specific instance yet, but I’m quite sure that over the years there have been moments of inaction that, with the benefit of hindsight, could have turned out differently, and better. It might have been some opportunity I let go by the boards– investing in land, taking certain things more seriously, behaving better, picking up on cues from my wife and either doing or saying something that would have paved the way for a better outcome.
OK. One thing that comes to mind is a missed opportunity to take the high road when we neighborhood kids gathered after supper one night and turned into a mob of sorts, picking on one of the other neighborhood kids who we, in our teenage mindlessness, thought was weird and annoying. I was neither emotionally mature nor brave enough to stand up and say that what we were doing was wrong and actually weak and awful. It still makes me cringe when I think about it.
The good thing is that with a bit of time, and grace and forgiveness, we mended fences and were able to move beyond that ugliness.
Legitimate Concern
The state of the world, and more specifically the condition of our politics in this country. All the ugliest tendencies are rearing their ugly heads here in America. We’re being called upon to take sides and take action, and it’s hard to know what that action is going to end up looking like, though it has started as vocal dissent and protest. We’re witnessing a stunning all-out assault on our institutions and norms, and it’s making a lot of us nervous.
Go-to Options
There aren’t many demanding days anymore, but if I spend time working with my son, or finish mowing and trimming on a hot day, I’ll sit in the carport with a cold ginger ale and just take in the sounds of the day– birds, distant traffic, etc. Most days still wind down with time on the iPad– daring to check the newsfeeds, playing Solitaire, reading an e-book. I’ll occasionally sit at the piano and plink away for a while. Sometimes a walk hits the spot, and there are lots of seasons of Doc Martin to get through.
Codger speak
As infrequently as possible, except for the texting app that came with my phone– if that’s even considered social media. I started a Facebook page a number of years ago, but am not sure why. It’s hardly ever used, except for checking what comes in via email notifications. My Instagram account is probably inactive, since I started that way back in its infancy and have never used it. As for X and Tik-Tok, just No.
I’m not sure how WordPress fits in. I’m engaged here pretty much every day, though there’s not much back-and-forth.
3 Cents' 