WHYS AND WHEREFORES

In case you're wondering where I've been (but maybe you haven't), I don't have the slightest idea when it comes to my blog postings. One thing I realized was that I was sometimes sounding a bit repetitive and on the preachy side. Also, in the last several months, I have been dealing with a major case of the shingles that has drained me of a lot of my inspiration. (I highly recommend that if you had chicken pox when you were a child, definitely get the shingles vaccine. I got mine to prevent ever getting it again). I'm happy to report that now I'm almost completely over it, with just a few twinges of discomfort now and then.

This Friday I will turn 73 and I have to say that I feel very fortunate at this stage of my life to be able to still do many of the things I have always enjoyed. 
Yet, at the same time, I also must confess that I haven't actually carried through with some of those things. So in this new year (now very much underway), I have been thinking about what is often referred to as "the whys and wherefores" of life. I assume that many of you do that once in awhile too. 

Obviously I am tempted to say that for the first few months of this year, I was somewhat debilitated by the shingles. I don't think anyone who has had them would blame me for that. I wasn't feeling well for a lot of the time, and I kept waiting to feel better before I got too deeply involved in pursuing something new or something old. But since my next birthday is on the horizon, I have been awakened to the reality that now is as good a time as ever.

Chris was telling me about a documentary she saw that showed a man in his 90's trudging around in a pond. He was an entomologist and had spent his lifetime dedicated to studying the "whys and wherefores" of insects. As he was somewhat struggling to keep his footing in the murky, muddy waters, he commented that he wished he could still do the things he used to be able to do when he was 80.

Hmm, food for thought! I celebrated my 60th by snow shoeing in the Adirondacks. Don't think I could do that anymore. Well, who knows? Maybe I could, but I'm sure it would be at a much slower pace and for a much shorter distance. Which leads me to say that I think I need to be appreciative of what I can still do at my present age-to-be and do it!

I like what Wayne Dyer said, "Don't let an old person into your form." Good thinking, but I also like what the guitarist, Chet Atkins, once said, "Don't worry about what you can't do, but recognize what you can do and do it the best you can."