And it is difficult to get on with life.
Sometimes the birds sing, you take the ferry to breakfast in Kingston, you make the dreaded Dr appointment, or Connor delights and all is well, sometimes.
Sometimes the air is so still and quiet and thick it feels alien. Sometimes nephews graduate into the great big wide world. Sometimes the world is full of generosity of spirit, sometimes its not.
Sometimes you don't fit in. Never have, never will. Sometimes you try to sort out how you became so freaking different, sometimes you don't.
Sometimes a friend, who wants to offer helpful counsel to someone getting a divorce, asks for advice. Halfway through a litany of advice you realize that your advice really isn't all that helpful for most people getting a divorce. So you re-word it into more ordinary language.
Sometimes you don't fall to the mountaintop, sometimes you have to climb. Or as Kathleen said at book club, "There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but once you get there the view is the same for everyone." Sometimes you don't need to climb at all but just relish the view you have, be it valley, river, or desert vista.
What is the world coming to?
Well, Josie is cooing, Judy singing, Indian food is still delicious especially when shared with a friend, Michael reads, Branson toddles, Cathy travels, Jean cooks, Janice does crossword puzzles, Julia has binoculars close by, Art walks the dogs if it isn't 100 degrees in the shade, Ian buys jewelry, Roger mountain bikes although his mother still thinks he is too old for that young man's passion, the ditch digger still digs a ditch.
The world is still "just be." Be like a bee. Do your job and rest. The elegant simplicity of life doesn't need complicated by any emphasis on "more." More accomplishment, more activities, more experiences, more more more anything.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes if you run the miles, paint the picture, get to the end of the road, sail the world, reach the stars all is good and well, sometimes. But if you don't all is good and well, sometimes.
Like a mayfly, we are born, get a bite to eat, maybe mate, and then die. We will never know why.
I'm thinking memory is tainted by wishful thinking and storytelling.
My recent favorite movies: Saving Mr Banks, Dallas Buyers Club, the BBC TV series Zen. Have I mentioned Gravity yet? Good movies revisited: The Right Stuff, Marilyn, Radio Days (Woody Allen has a new movie coming out), My Dog Tulip, and Powwow Highway.
Jerry I am finally reading the book about writers and drinking: The Trip to Echo Springs. Next up is a book that blends both our interests. Five Who Came Back, about movie directors who served in WWII. Claire told me about it due to my movie interest and now I'm telling you due to your history interest. Written by Mark Harris, how is that for a coincidence?
What is the world coming to? Breakfast with Carol, playdates with Connor, dinner with Ian, Roger bubbling. Alaskan cruises bought and paid for, emails with Bo, she invited to the new Cabiri show, Tewaz, June 6th, Dr appointments that come and go, the doctor said my ears suck, well not exactly her words. Since I never bought a blood pressure machine, she wanted me to come into the office to have it checked twice a week. I waited 30 minutes the first time I tried that, guess who went out and bought a machine?
The world's circles of work, family, community, and spirituality continue.
The world's circles of work, family, community, and spirituality continue.
Sometimes the world continues with out any help from me at all.
Sometimes.
