Well dear readers, you certainly rallied around me over my last post. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to raise a big red flag or worse, a white flag. I started by deciding that perhaps writing a bit about how I was feeling would be helpful to me. It might help to just get it out, put it on paper. Maybe I could move my feelings of despair and being overwhelmed to a neat little box on the shelf. So I did it. I wrote them down. And then I thought well, I’ve been sharing pretty much everything along the way, so why stop now?
What is fascinating is that there were more views on this post and more new subscribers (by a lot) than ever before. Does the headline- I’m Not Doing Well- really evoke such sympathy and/or camaraderie. I think maybe it does. I think a lot of us are not doing that well right now. Interesting that I am penning this post on the night of the first debate of the 2024 election. No matter what side you are on, there is plenty to worry about. Eternal despair looms. We are bracing ourselves and getting ready to rail at the television later tonight and worry about the future of our country.
But I would like us to look ahead. Let’s look beyond the worry and the despair of today. Let’s think about what really matters the most going forward. Stephen Colbert has a question that he is now asking his guests. It’s his new quiz. And here it is. What five words will define the rest of your life? I find this endlessly provocative.
My quick answer was family, friends, art, nature, dogs. Art of course is a very big bucket and encompasses theatre and music and the visual arts. I debated whether dogs was the right answer instead of books or learning. I decided to move dogs into the family and friends category. If they are my dog, they are family and if there are someone else’s dog, they are friends. I could have taken a short cut and said dog books as my shelves are full of them but that leaves out too many other books. And then I debated whether I should settle on books or learning. Others may quibble with this, but I’m such a book nerd, that I’m going with books. Of course we are learning all the time, through the people in our lives and the art that we create or enjoy and the nature that surrounds us.
So my revised list is family, friends, art, nature, books. What’s yours?
?
Family first. Always. Friends, yes, but I’d expand it to say people. I love my friends. I have a few very close friends that I’ve known most of my life, and could file them under family. But I could pick-up and move to a new place delighted by the prospect of meeting new PEOPLE. Nature, yes. Food comes next, as in cooking. The kitchen is as much my happy place as any other. Sharing a great meal (with wine), is tops. Books, yes. Alone on a desert island I would rather books than Amazon prime video. Amazon Prime does nothing to make me feel at home. Books do. So, Family, People, Nature, Food, Books.
Love, dignity, gratitude, light, honesty