It has been roughly a year since I originally had written the first post. I’d say I worked on my procrastination ability in the past year, but lets face it, it has been here and strong since the beginning.
Looking back on what I had written, I am fairly regretful that I hadn’t continued with the posts after that one, or well, published it at all. I feel as though the vaccinations ramp up across the States and other countries in the world, we will all find ourselves regretting time and opportunity wasted. That is so presumptuous and such an utterly privileged thing to say though, isn’t it? The death toll in the States had topped 545,000 as I write this and add another 2,200,000 worldwide. That’s only the reported numbers, not to mention all of the deaths caused incidentally by COVID by not being able to see a doctor, poverty, malnutrition, and a million other things. And here I am, complaining about a first world problem.
But, my friend, before you start flogging yourself…or me…I will come back to something I have heard before and often say to my friends today — “You can’t fix or change yesterday, you can only change the now and tomorrow.” Just as we had no choice about being born, we didn’t choose how we grew up or what opportunities were presented to us before we were adults or even maybe beyond. Grieve, mourn, be forever changed by this event but take action. Dean Koontz had written in a great quote in Brother Odd, “We yearn for tomorrow and the progress that it represents. But yesterday was once tomorrow, and where was progress in it? Or we yearn for yesterday, for what was or what might have been. But as we are yearning, the present is becoming the past, so the past is nothing but our yearning for second chances.”
Some may think it unfair that they survived, or aren’t sure of where to go now through so much loss. And unfortunately, I don’t have any answers for you. I don’t know how long this will continue, or where the road will go, but we are here right now, in this moment and God knows how many moments after that. We are all a year older since COVID shutdowns began here in the US, and getting older is a privilege denied to many.
So lets live. Lets keep doing what we can, and make today not something we regret and yearn for tomorrow.
For those who had read the first post — I did not run into any skunks again, I did not see more hitchhikers, I did buy bird seed and have been scattering it on my Buddy walks, I had also bought binoculars but they mess up my eyes and make me see double. I still don’t know what home really is. There was so much more I wanted to do, but didn’t, so I am doing it now while I can. It starts and continues with this, and will stretch into publishing my first book, monthly trips and reviews of parks and being healthier.
I look forward to sharing my progress with deciding to live with you There will be semi-monthly updates regarding trips I take and things I’ve done, or seen. As we all know, stories can come alive from anything, even the smallest moments. Feel free to leave comments, or send me emails, whatever you want, and share your stories of your past year or your dreams for the future.
Wandering Tale 