What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I think this is one of the tougher questions. It probably arises from my doubts that anything is ever perfect. You can be happy in the extreme but I don't know that it would reach perfection. We have chosen to live at least part of the year in Georgia. It separates us by about a 1,000 miles from our friends in Illinois. It isn't just the separation in miles but in time that is significant. It is not the separation that makes me happy. It is when we get back and have the chance to visit with old friends again. Sometimes months or even years pass between opportunities to see some friends yet we can sit and talk almost as if no time has passed at all. The conversation is easy, no topic seems off limits and we don't feel any need to hold back on any opinions. It is that easy familiarity that makes those moments happy and as close to perfect as I can recall.
I walk a good deal for a couple of reasons. First, it is good exercise. From time to time I think about joining the YMCA. It seems silly after I think about it because all I would do there is walk on a treadmill or ride and exercise bike. If I am going to walk it seems like walking outdoors is a much better alternative. It is the second thing that I find gives me almost perfect happiness. Somehow walking in the sun, seeing the world at a slower pace brings some clarity that other activities cannot. I am often surprised by how much you miss driving a car at 30 miles an hour or even a golf cart at 15 miles per hour that you see walking at 3 miles per hour. The flowers in the yards. Squirrels in the trees. Art or other decorations people put in their yards. The sound of gravel crunching under your shoes. The wind blowing in your face. The sun on your back. The solitude of your thoughts. The opportunity to think about anything and or nothing as the miles slowly pass you by.
The last thing would be sitting at home with Rose, Lily and Carol. We don't have to be doing anything. Just sitting and being with each other. There is no place I would rather be and no one else I would like to be with as much as them.
Happiness, friends, walking and home. Who could possibly want more?
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Proust Question 2
What is your favorite journey?
It is tough to narrow this down to one journey. I enjoy returning to Illinois and our home there in the Spring. Carol finds it odd but I truly miss the smell of fresh turned dirt. The earthy smell of it reminds me of the springs of my youth. I don't mind being in Illinois for the summer heat. The heat brings those special treats that belong to the Midwest. Blackberries and black raspberries fresh off the vine. The best sweet corn you can get anywhere. The sweet corn they sell in Georgia is barely edible. So the journey north calls me in the Spring. Depending on how things go I am at least in the fall of my life and perhaps I have started winter. There really is no way to be sure. I am certain the flower of my spring has faded away. The summer of growth and productivity has passed. Yes, fall has arrived. The leaves have turned, the gray in my beard and the age spots on my hands provide ample evidence of fall. So while I enjoy the journey to home of my youth in the spring there is another journey I look forward to with equal anticipation. The return to the mild winters of Tybee. The sound of the waves breaking against the shore. The call of the ever present gulls. The smell of the salt in the ocean air. In the winter of my life I am looking for the mild embrace of the Georgia winter. A brief dip or two into the high 20's or low 30's. The mild afternoons in the 50's and 60's. If last winter was any forecaster of things to come we should not see snow again here until sometime in the late 2030's. I'm good with that forecast. I have scooped plenty of snow up north. I have not had to shovel sunshine down here on the coast. So the journey for me is north and south depending on the season. The difficult part is choosing to be happy wherever you are. My happiness is assured as long as I can enjoy the company of my wonderful wife and the companionship of a couple of great dogs. The three of them make the journey worthwhile.
It is tough to narrow this down to one journey. I enjoy returning to Illinois and our home there in the Spring. Carol finds it odd but I truly miss the smell of fresh turned dirt. The earthy smell of it reminds me of the springs of my youth. I don't mind being in Illinois for the summer heat. The heat brings those special treats that belong to the Midwest. Blackberries and black raspberries fresh off the vine. The best sweet corn you can get anywhere. The sweet corn they sell in Georgia is barely edible. So the journey north calls me in the Spring. Depending on how things go I am at least in the fall of my life and perhaps I have started winter. There really is no way to be sure. I am certain the flower of my spring has faded away. The summer of growth and productivity has passed. Yes, fall has arrived. The leaves have turned, the gray in my beard and the age spots on my hands provide ample evidence of fall. So while I enjoy the journey to home of my youth in the spring there is another journey I look forward to with equal anticipation. The return to the mild winters of Tybee. The sound of the waves breaking against the shore. The call of the ever present gulls. The smell of the salt in the ocean air. In the winter of my life I am looking for the mild embrace of the Georgia winter. A brief dip or two into the high 20's or low 30's. The mild afternoons in the 50's and 60's. If last winter was any forecaster of things to come we should not see snow again here until sometime in the late 2030's. I'm good with that forecast. I have scooped plenty of snow up north. I have not had to shovel sunshine down here on the coast. So the journey for me is north and south depending on the season. The difficult part is choosing to be happy wherever you are. My happiness is assured as long as I can enjoy the company of my wonderful wife and the companionship of a couple of great dogs. The three of them make the journey worthwhile.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Proust Question 1
So the experiment begins.
1. What is your current state of mind?
I've been thinking about that most of the day. I guess the best word I can use at this time is apprehensive. Part of it has to do with taking on this social experiment. Am I will to be honest in my answers to every question? How much do I want to reveal? Where is the line between not enough and too much. It's like realizing at some point in life that you are here because your parents had sex. You know it had to have happened but you really don't want to dwell on the thought. God forbid you ever have to hear the details. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I am, in this case, blissfully ignorant. So, I will share what I think is appropriate. I also understand that there are times that my lovely bride of 43+ years wishes I could or would shut my damn mouth.
My apprehensive nature is not limited to this blog. Our daughter in law is currently in Dallas, Texas at a women's conference. The conference is not what makes me apprehensive. I hope she has a wonderful experience and comes back energized and confident. Travel always concerns me especially when it involves flying in an airplane. I know in my head that air travel is one of the safest forms of transportation. It does not stop that little nagging worry in the background that something could go wrong. My granddaughters need their mother and my son needs his wife.
Owning two houses, as Mike knows, is not the joy everyone thinks it is. When you are in Georgia you worry about the house in Illinois. Is everything okay? Are all the automatic systems like heat working? We will go back there in a few weeks. There are lots of things that need to be done here before we go there. Tomorrow is going to be taken up doing some painting downstairs. I tried to program the sprinkler system last week. I had trouble getting part of it to shut off. The instructions looked simple. Apparently I am simpler than the instructions. I still need to finish cleaning and water sealing the deck. I have some landscaping to do. The list goes on.
Audrey is our granddaughter who is involved in competitive gymnastics. One of the girls her age dislocated her elbow the other night. I know the gym she goes to takes every possible precaution to prevent injury. Everything wasn't enough to prevent this accident. You never want to see or hear about you child or grandchild being injured.
So, after all that I know what I got from my Grandmother Beck. Yes folks, clearly I am a worrier. I fret about things that I cannot change. Such is life. Sometimes even knowing does not lead to progress or change. Seems like in my 60's I'm pretty locked in to how I think and feel.
1. What is your current state of mind?
I've been thinking about that most of the day. I guess the best word I can use at this time is apprehensive. Part of it has to do with taking on this social experiment. Am I will to be honest in my answers to every question? How much do I want to reveal? Where is the line between not enough and too much. It's like realizing at some point in life that you are here because your parents had sex. You know it had to have happened but you really don't want to dwell on the thought. God forbid you ever have to hear the details. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I am, in this case, blissfully ignorant. So, I will share what I think is appropriate. I also understand that there are times that my lovely bride of 43+ years wishes I could or would shut my damn mouth.
My apprehensive nature is not limited to this blog. Our daughter in law is currently in Dallas, Texas at a women's conference. The conference is not what makes me apprehensive. I hope she has a wonderful experience and comes back energized and confident. Travel always concerns me especially when it involves flying in an airplane. I know in my head that air travel is one of the safest forms of transportation. It does not stop that little nagging worry in the background that something could go wrong. My granddaughters need their mother and my son needs his wife.
Owning two houses, as Mike knows, is not the joy everyone thinks it is. When you are in Georgia you worry about the house in Illinois. Is everything okay? Are all the automatic systems like heat working? We will go back there in a few weeks. There are lots of things that need to be done here before we go there. Tomorrow is going to be taken up doing some painting downstairs. I tried to program the sprinkler system last week. I had trouble getting part of it to shut off. The instructions looked simple. Apparently I am simpler than the instructions. I still need to finish cleaning and water sealing the deck. I have some landscaping to do. The list goes on.
Audrey is our granddaughter who is involved in competitive gymnastics. One of the girls her age dislocated her elbow the other night. I know the gym she goes to takes every possible precaution to prevent injury. Everything wasn't enough to prevent this accident. You never want to see or hear about you child or grandchild being injured.
So, after all that I know what I got from my Grandmother Beck. Yes folks, clearly I am a worrier. I fret about things that I cannot change. Such is life. Sometimes even knowing does not lead to progress or change. Seems like in my 60's I'm pretty locked in to how I think and feel.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Proust
Marcel Proust was a French essayist and novelist. I have never read any of his essays or books. I read the Proust Questionnaire a few months ago and contemplated sharing it and my answers with you. He believed that by answering these questions you reveal your true nature. I do not intend to answer all of them in one post. Some questions may lend themselves to an entire blog post. Some may require several questions and answers to make a blog entry. Today all you get are the questions. I hope the exercise is interesting enough that you choose to examine your life. Perhaps not in this type of public forum, but in a manner that is comfortable for you. Here are the questions.
1. What is your current state of mind?
2. What is your favorite journey?
3. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
4. What is your greatest fear?
5. What is your most marked characteristic?
6. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
7. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
8. What is your greatest extravagance?
9. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
10. On what occasion do you lie?
11. Dislike most about your appearance?
12. Which living person do you most despise?
13. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
14. What is your greatest regret?
15. What or who is the greatest love in your life?
16. When and where were you the happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
20. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
21. What is your most treasured possession?
22. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
23. Where would you like to live?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is the quality you most like in a man?
26. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
27. What do you value most in your friends?
28. Who are your favorite writers?
29. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
30. What is it that you most dislike?
31. Who are your heroes in real life?
32. How would you like to die?
33. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
34. What is your motto?
Some questions on the surface appear to be easy. Some seem almost impossible. I will do my best over the next few blog posts to answer every one as completely and honestly as possible. Take some time as I do this to think about your answers to these questions.
1. What is your current state of mind?
2. What is your favorite journey?
3. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
4. What is your greatest fear?
5. What is your most marked characteristic?
6. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
7. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
8. What is your greatest extravagance?
9. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
10. On what occasion do you lie?
11. Dislike most about your appearance?
12. Which living person do you most despise?
13. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
14. What is your greatest regret?
15. What or who is the greatest love in your life?
16. When and where were you the happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
20. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
21. What is your most treasured possession?
22. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
23. Where would you like to live?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is the quality you most like in a man?
26. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
27. What do you value most in your friends?
28. Who are your favorite writers?
29. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
30. What is it that you most dislike?
31. Who are your heroes in real life?
32. How would you like to die?
33. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
34. What is your motto?
Some questions on the surface appear to be easy. Some seem almost impossible. I will do my best over the next few blog posts to answer every one as completely and honestly as possible. Take some time as I do this to think about your answers to these questions.
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