Love it. I am OK with longer walks that might have one time been runs. I used to miss the trees talking and the birds singing back then, now they give the walk a beautiful richness.
I love the concept of our lives as a series of movies. I worked my way out of malaise as a freshman riding the bus to high school every morning by imagining the sound track of my day, envisioning my life as it unfolded on my mental screen. And today, after returning from what I'm calling the Flynn Life Events Road Tour in which my hubs and I drove from Idaho to San Diego and back with many stops along the way, including my older son's beautiful wedding and my dear sister's memorial (she died on June 2), with news of several other deaths in our circle and a few reunions with people we realize we may never see again — pardon the wildly run-on sentence, but I sense even more powerfully the privilege of being alive and the need to experience every minute of it fully. Cheers to you, Julia.
I’ve read the Hunter Thompson quote before - a few times; it never fails to resonate with my soul.
I remember the essay you published on body builders a few years ago on Medium.com, with a special focus on Zak. He is one amazing man, who inspires me as well. He has leadership qualities that some folks might not even recognize.
My movie for the past few years is like Groundhog Day of home repairs. I’m tired and weary from it. Frankly, it’s very difficult to make plans that are far from home, given spouse’s medical conditions (Parkinson’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment - which of late seems more than mild). Sometimes at the end of the day, I just go into the backyard and cry for the losses (of my freedom to do other than caregiver or home chores). I find no joy in these roles.
I think of you more often than you may realize. I don't know if you can get away but I'd love to have you on one of the rafting trips if for no other reason than to be so untethered from all that you describe. It pains me, and I know it will get worse, as does he. Like you I am tired and weary from endless expensive repairs, from having to find furniture all over again, unpack and repack, and all the ongoing business of trying to rebuild this busted-up body. But it isn't going to stop, and my challenge is to be with it as it is, not as I might have it be. That said, I ache for the loss of freedom you are dealing with.
Love this! My favorite quote is Annie Dillard's, "How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives." You remind us all to not waste a minute of it.
"I'ma gonna someday" becomes lost in the fog of the everyday, Kaarin. While my personal idiocy isn't for most, it's mine, and it takes work and workouts and energy to accomplish. I am so very eager to get back on the trail to find out what I can do these days. If we don't want mediocre, that begins with the habits we do daily. I love that quote.
We have to LIVE our lives! And when we're young we have adventures, do physical things, and sometimes hurt ourselves. But we get up, heal ourselves and keep going but when we
re older, we understand that we're not invulnerable, so we do things that will give us the adventures but are less likely to hurt us.
I love, love, love this! And thanks for finding that quote again. It's always been one of my life quotes!
The part where you mentioned "one heart attack, one brain aneurysm," really struck me because one year after Curtis died, my pseudo brother dropped dead of a heart attack at 52. And one year after that an old best friend died suddenly of an aneurysm at 45. It has been sobering to truly understand through them that we are NEVER guaranteed another day.
I'm so motivated and inspired to make the best of my time and be mindful of the journey because of this.
We honestly march along in this society believing that it's not going to happen to us. I am not quite sure when it happened, but sometime in the past six months as I had to wear that effing boot yet again, I realized that I am guaranteed nothing. I have a lot of damage I have to manage, and it takes a lot of work to address all of it. That said I will not be sidelined if I can manage an adventure. Sometimes just having the gift of time on my bed with Mika, having her gently chew on my fingers as I rub her belly, well, isn't that enough every so often?
My movie would be considered terribly boring by most, but my co-star and I just finished our 55th one year episode together. The spin-offs of sons, leading to grandchildren, have kept the plot fun and exciting, at least for us.
Inspiring reminder of ‘Do it while you can.’
Thank you Lou!
Love it. I am OK with longer walks that might have one time been runs. I used to miss the trees talking and the birds singing back then, now they give the walk a beautiful richness.
I love the concept of our lives as a series of movies. I worked my way out of malaise as a freshman riding the bus to high school every morning by imagining the sound track of my day, envisioning my life as it unfolded on my mental screen. And today, after returning from what I'm calling the Flynn Life Events Road Tour in which my hubs and I drove from Idaho to San Diego and back with many stops along the way, including my older son's beautiful wedding and my dear sister's memorial (she died on June 2), with news of several other deaths in our circle and a few reunions with people we realize we may never see again — pardon the wildly run-on sentence, but I sense even more powerfully the privilege of being alive and the need to experience every minute of it fully. Cheers to you, Julia.
Julia,
Great piece.
I’ve read the Hunter Thompson quote before - a few times; it never fails to resonate with my soul.
I remember the essay you published on body builders a few years ago on Medium.com, with a special focus on Zak. He is one amazing man, who inspires me as well. He has leadership qualities that some folks might not even recognize.
My movie for the past few years is like Groundhog Day of home repairs. I’m tired and weary from it. Frankly, it’s very difficult to make plans that are far from home, given spouse’s medical conditions (Parkinson’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment - which of late seems more than mild). Sometimes at the end of the day, I just go into the backyard and cry for the losses (of my freedom to do other than caregiver or home chores). I find no joy in these roles.
I think of you more often than you may realize. I don't know if you can get away but I'd love to have you on one of the rafting trips if for no other reason than to be so untethered from all that you describe. It pains me, and I know it will get worse, as does he. Like you I am tired and weary from endless expensive repairs, from having to find furniture all over again, unpack and repack, and all the ongoing business of trying to rebuild this busted-up body. But it isn't going to stop, and my challenge is to be with it as it is, not as I might have it be. That said, I ache for the loss of freedom you are dealing with.
Love this! My favorite quote is Annie Dillard's, "How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives." You remind us all to not waste a minute of it.
"I'ma gonna someday" becomes lost in the fog of the everyday, Kaarin. While my personal idiocy isn't for most, it's mine, and it takes work and workouts and energy to accomplish. I am so very eager to get back on the trail to find out what I can do these days. If we don't want mediocre, that begins with the habits we do daily. I love that quote.
We have to LIVE our lives! And when we're young we have adventures, do physical things, and sometimes hurt ourselves. But we get up, heal ourselves and keep going but when we
re older, we understand that we're not invulnerable, so we do things that will give us the adventures but are less likely to hurt us.
And we keep going!
I still love doing dangerous things, it's in my DNA. That said, all I want is for people to live fully.
I love, love, love this! And thanks for finding that quote again. It's always been one of my life quotes!
The part where you mentioned "one heart attack, one brain aneurysm," really struck me because one year after Curtis died, my pseudo brother dropped dead of a heart attack at 52. And one year after that an old best friend died suddenly of an aneurysm at 45. It has been sobering to truly understand through them that we are NEVER guaranteed another day.
I'm so motivated and inspired to make the best of my time and be mindful of the journey because of this.
Wonderful post, Julia!
We honestly march along in this society believing that it's not going to happen to us. I am not quite sure when it happened, but sometime in the past six months as I had to wear that effing boot yet again, I realized that I am guaranteed nothing. I have a lot of damage I have to manage, and it takes a lot of work to address all of it. That said I will not be sidelined if I can manage an adventure. Sometimes just having the gift of time on my bed with Mika, having her gently chew on my fingers as I rub her belly, well, isn't that enough every so often?
For me, that's enough MORE than every so often. I'm still so glad you adopted her.
I'm heading out to the mountains with Dezi today so we'll snap some pics to share later!
My movie would be considered terribly boring by most, but my co-star and I just finished our 55th one year episode together. The spin-offs of sons, leading to grandchildren, have kept the plot fun and exciting, at least for us.
excitement is relative, Jim. Most folks would rightly consider me mad, but that's why someone has to go do it so that others can laugh!
Julia says “please play today.” I’ll obey ! My lab Alvin and I will . Heartedly
Mika has been whining quite impatiently at my chair for her morning walk.....