While at work, people ask me on a daily basis from where I come. I know not if it’s the nasal tone or the drawl from southwestern Pennsylvania. So I relate the story of our retirement-this decision to crate all our belongings into an RVand travel. Add to this a fervent quest to photograph my country. A large majority of these people are taken aback by my decision to work, albeit, a starter’s position on a golf course could be questioned as work. Why would a man who has worked for thirty-five years, decide to endeavor in anything but rest? I often ask myself why. But as the minutes pass by in wonderment, I realize I’ve spent too much time thinking. It’s time to get up and do something. I’m bored. I need constant stimulation. My life has and continues to be a horizontal exploration of one area of interest to another.
Just today I met a fascinating man on the golf course. He hails from Philadelphia so there was some common ground. When I asked what he was doing out here in the Badlands, he looked as puzzled as if someone had posed that same question to me. He too, was in his retirement. In a former life, he coached the rowers of the US Olympic Crew Team. He’d taken the men to Seoul, Korea in 1988. Now his quest was to golf in every state in the nation. What an endeavor, I thought. Here was a man, much older than my years, with no intention of the retirement life of which most foresee. Those poor souls rocking on porches, not leaving town and dying a little bit each day. And then I mused to myself… “Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.”
Once again you capture my attention!!!
And you my dear have captured my attention for some time.
My Father discovered a little cartoon which spoke volumes. A man standing under a tree looks up at a man sitting in the tree.
“Why are you sitting in the tree?” asks the man on the ground.
“Everybody’s got to be somewhere, man.” replied the man in the tree.
There is nothing wrong with practicing the “wherever you go, there you are” philosophy. It has a Zen-like quality without the inconvenience of studying Zen.
More important is trying to apply the blessing of Jonathan Swift: “May you live all the days of your life.”
Thanks for sharing your adventures. May you live all the days of your life.
Mike
To Michael Lockridge: You are a sage to me, a learned and knowledgeable man. I learn much from your stories and writings. I hope the same for others. Thank you for the comments. They are always….well taken.
Larry, the Gypsy in our lives……..each day is an adventure, and a new miracle to you…….and wondrous……I heard soneone say this one time, and now it makes sense, sing like no ones’s listening, dance like no ones’s watching………live each day like it’s your last……….and don’t forget……….love the one your with….love you Gypsy……….
Debbie,
Thank you so much. You’re the greatest. I’m just glad that I can make you smile once in a while. That’s good enough for me.