Playing for Time

HAPHAZARD OBSERVATIONS THAT YOU CAN READ IF YOU WANT…

1. Warmth is preferable to cold. This farm girl has to breathe fresh air every day even if it’s only from the balcony, but the fireplace when she comes back in is the bomb.
2. Coffee is like a miracle drug and I can’t muster up any shame over how much I love it. We’re best friends until noon every day or until the pot runs dry, and then I bow to the requirements of my other great love – sleep. It’s all about balance.
3. People run scared most of the time, whether we’re aware of it or not, and our ingrained fears rule us to a distressing degree. Most of the ways in which we hurt people are rooted in trepidation of some sort – fear of loss, fear of being wrong, fear of failure, fear of change, et.al.
4. There are people in my world who give me hope for the future and make me want to stick around for it, and ironically they’re the people who most doubt their contribution, which I guess is fitting – humility tends to make for a more lovable human being.
5. We’re all holding our breath for 2016 to give it up, and for a bright spanking new year to make its debut. Unfortunately, spanking is likely to be the operative word as 2017 unfolds – just the facts, kids, life is life. People die, babies are born, shit happens, good and bad, and planet Earth just keeps on rollin’ along. We have just enough context for dealing as it happens, so our only viable choice is to relax into life and exert whatever positive influence we can.
6. We’ve grown unaccustomed to people standing firmly by their convictions and backing that up with actions, so when individual protests capture media attention (I’m looking at you, Janet Chamberlin) we’re sort of in awe of those people until we remember that’s OUR job, too. No real exemptions – if we’re breathing and occupying space on the planet and we have a working brain at our disposal, we have to be all about the things that are important. Do we need a refresher list?
7. Human beings come in every sort of configuration under the sun – physically, mentally, spiritually – and our physical being, in the end, has little to do with who we are. In that context, we discover our own entertainments and distractions, and then ridicule other people for their choices in those areas, while feeling smug about ours. It’s obvious and it’s silly, but fully human. Who will save us from ourselves? Just us, so we’d best get crackin’.
8. Most people know that my husband Kim does all the cooking here. It’s a wonderful thing (and the only way I went for living with someone again, I’m selfish and lazy, so sue me). He makes dishes that are the best to be found anywhere, but I’m up for eating out whenever one of us calls that shot. It always feels like a date, morning, noon, or night, because we don’t both have books open in front of us, the eye contact is stellar, and the conversation is more intimate than at home because obvious reasons – nobody else in the room wants to hear what we’re saying. A fun lunch at Zen Zero today prompted that observation.
9. There are times for talking and times to stop talking, and I generally blur the line between the two. Enough said.
10. Spending time alone is an acquired taste, even for raging introverts, but it’s worth hanging in long enough to become your own best friend. And that, too, is self-explanatory.