Daily writing prompt

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

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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.

Daily writing prompt

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

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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.

Daily writing prompt

What bores you?

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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.

Daily writing prompt

What is your favorite drink?

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Non-alcoholic: coffee, and water; alcohol: a frosty IPA, or gin and tonic.

Daily writing prompt

Who are your favorite people to be around?

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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.

Daily writing prompt

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

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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.

Daily writing prompt

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

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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.

Daily writing prompt

Write about your approach to budgeting.

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I should let my wife do it. I’ve always figured that we’d somehow get by, even though this laissez-faire attitude has caused a few angst-filled moments over the years.

Most everything we pay on a regular basis is done via automatic withdrawal, and I’ve always shown enough discipline from month to month to maintain a sufficient balance to cover expenses. It’s more that there’s never been much of a surplus. Apart from the congregations’ contributions to a pension fund over the years, I never made additional contributions and we were never able to save anything from my salaries.

We were, and still are living beyond our means, in a way. Pretty much paycheck to paycheck, on the church pension and our Social Security, though there might be a bit more breathing room lately.

When it comes to unexpected out-of-pocket expenses, I prioritize the payment schedule– medical bills in particular. I rationalize that the bottom line is such an arbitrary amount to begin with, I’m gonna be equally arbitrary in paying it off. In other words, they’ll get their money, but it won’t be in an exhorbitant lump sum like they sometimes bill it, and it may take a while.

I understand the importance of and wisdom in budgeting, but I’m not getting any younger and I figure I didn’t work all those years just so I could retire and only keep up with monthly expenses. If I want to splurge on a cold brew with a shot or a meal out, or a trip to see the kids, I’d like to be able to do that. Toward that end, we’ll have to communicate a bit better regarding where we actually stand. And we should probably be reviewing our monthly commitments and seeing if there are places ripe for cutting some waste.

And, depending on how things pan out with what’s going on in Washington, I may end up having to go back to work. That would be a revolting development.

Daily writing prompt

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

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I used to be. Not so much lately, if by patriotic one means a flag-waving, “America- love it or leave it” unquestioning allegiance. The whole concept of national pride isn’t holding as much water as it once did. It’s starting to feel provincial and naive. I’m tired of all the boasting and crowing and concern with “national interests.”

That being said, when the Olympics roll around, or there’s some other international sporting event, I still root for Americans most of the time.

I’m moved by the ideals and possibilities of what America could be, what the world could be– not by what we’re currently seeing and hearing from our so-called leaders.

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

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A group of us got stopped for jaywalking once, and I got a couple of speeding tickets in close succession.

The speeding infractions really got under my skin– not because I wasn’t driving a bit faster than I should have been, but because I had to pay fines and spend money that could have been spent in a hundred better ways, or saved.