Nothing certain in life

The bathtub drain by J. Binford-Bell

It strikes me as I get older there are two paths through the minefield of life. One is to tiptoe carefully through it trying to follow the foot prints of someone who traversed it before you. And the other is to run full speed ahead while bobbing and weaving. Much of my youth I chose the latter method and survived only partly unscathed.

After my parents died I tended to take a more conservative approach. It was almost as if I had done the dare devil thing to get their attention and now I could play it safe. Let me mention right here safe did not work. And it is certainly not gratifying. I do not care what your financial adviser, life coach, minister, neighbor, friend or parent tell you there are just entirely too many variables to the future to have any control over it. So run for it. Or dance through it. Or happy hop. In the fable about the ant and the grasshopper the grasshopper had a far richer life.

I have a friend who is so sure that what he was eating was killing him he virtually eats nothing and now looks as if he is starving to death. I recently sat next to him at a dinner party and watched him just move food around his plate. But it made me think this last week of how I tiptoe through the dietary minefield media has thrust upon us. Breakfast was once bacon, eggs and toast. Now it is just eggs soft boiled. Want to guess when I was thinner? Could I be starving myself into obesity?

So with that epiphany I began to wonder if I was creating financial instability by trying to save every penny? Am I increasing my chances of falling and breaking something by walking too carefully over the earth? Am I insuring a boring future by taking no risks?

One of my younger friends died yesterday. There are no guarantees in life so while you can DANCE.

In memory of Catherine Calvert Strom
October 13, 1954 - July 25, 2013

You will be missed when I stop to take catch my breath.



Comments

  1. The Blog of BeeJuly 27, 2013 at 6:22 PM

    Brilliant piece of writing and thought provoking. I know from myself and friends of years, that I am the adventurous one. I took the risks, took the chances, paid the heavy price in some cases but when it all boils down to it, I can safely say that for the most part it was fun and exciting.

    I think your male friend is probably anorexic!

    I am so very sorry to hear that you have lost another friend especially in view of the fact that you just lost Jan's husband. Two friends in such a short space of time is not easy. I hope Catherine danced through life and arrives in heaven with a glass in one hand and a bar of chocolate in the other saying, 'it was one hell of a ride'.

    I had a shock today when I learned today via an article in a British newspaper on line that a friend of many years, has died. She more than occasionally danced through her younger life. We didn't say goodbye.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysJuly 31, 2013 at 7:29 PM

    Love this. You are so right, there is no certainty. As for the diet thing.....oh heck, I have to blog about that. I avoid bacon because I abhor the hog industry. If I could get well-raised I would eat it. Are you familiar with the works of Sally Fallon? Visit http://westonaprice.org.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f
Read more

Eagle Nest Dam

Image
Tour of Eagle Nest Dam Eagle Nest Dam is the largest privately built dam in the United States. It was begun by the Springer family in 1917 and completed in 1920. It and the reservoir beyond it one was privately owned by the CS Ranch which recently sold it to the state of New Mexico. Eagle Nest Lake is now a state park, but the dam and the waters in the lake are another matter all together. Water is well regulated in New Mexico especially during a drought. The lake is now at 25% of its normal capacity, and the water in the lake are water right lease holds of Raton, Cimarron, and historic ranches in the area like the UU Bar and the CS Ranch. Game and Fish department also get involved because the Cimarron River is an active fishery of the state. Our guide was a state engineer and the Gateway Museum secured permission of the land owners below the dam for us to gain access to the area. Some 100 locals and tourists attended this rare event. I have lived here almost twenty years and th
Read more