I hit the road again this morning before 6 AM, walking for an hour without encountering a single moving car or truck, which allowed me to listen and hear thr music in the air. Yesterday the dominant song had been from mourning doves. It was like stereo, the coo/coo – coos coming from sources on both sides of the roadway. Today a more raucous sound of fellow crows occasionally crowding out the lighter bird songs but all part of it, all good, all conveying life, vibrant and active. I note how my walking is improving in the sense that I’m walking faster and enjoying it more, no pain anywhere now except the soles of my feet.
I talked a few minutes with a friend yesterday after church who is almost totally immobile, becoming inadvertently an example of what I don’t want to have happen to me, a sort of negative inspiration. I find a lot of such models around me lately, I’m sorry to say. The same goes for the high number of overweight people I saw while shopping at Haagen’s, noticeably clustered around the bread and pastry section of the store, my own addictions personified. Here again, negative models to inspire me. There is no question, though, that the sugar/ carb addiction is every bit as tough to break as the nicotine one. I’ve made a few good starts in curbing my sugar addiction only to falter, not from consuming cane sugar – I have had little trouble making switch to good alternate sweeteners – but getting away from grain flours is another matter. Keto diet advocates are a big help, producing some edible recipes, but I’m not there yet, thinking that the Paleo approach makes more sense. I’m still weighing in at 154-155 pounds but that’s only one factor I have to look at. I didn’t intend to get into negative models of inspiration but here I am already aware of knowing that what not to do, what not to be, has only limited value. The big issue, the big question: Is my body serving me in my desire to express unconditional love in every encounter? I entertain this question, you understand, not because of any altruistic ideas but for a perfectly selfish reason: I want to experience joy in every moment, I want to meet God in the other person in every encounter, I want to live in a world where there is always a possibility for a greater good, a better solution. I want to live! Having a healthy, functioning body with legs and heart to get me around, is part of the vision I have for myself. (I stop here, just so you know, to have a sip of white wine, liquid sugar, I had earlier poured for myself, to celebrate my own existence and in silent honor of my friends).
Last night, Sunday night, was sweet after a sour beginning. The day before I’d been involved in working on my website but at intervals I’d stop to phone my neighbor and friend, Jan, to ask her to join me at my house for pizza and salad and maybe a movie afterwards, a routine we’ve followed from time to time, always enjoying each other’s company. Never once did she bother to answer her phone. By 4 PM i was genuinely angry at her and absolutely refused to get in my car and drive across the bridge to connect. The next day, after church, I finally got around to talking with Jan, expressing how irked I was that she had not answered her phone. Jan, puzzled, said she’d never gotten a phone call from me and showed me her list of incoming calls. Then she asked the inevitable: Did I have the correct phone number? It turned out that I had recently gotten a new cell phone and had not copied Jan’s phone number correctly! All day Saturday I’d been calling an incorrect number. My indignity quickly melted into remorse. Jan just smiled, acknowledging that the same thing has happened to her in the past and not to worry. Another lesson for me: double check the facts; in this case, her telephone number. See what happened? I’d immediately assumed the worst, an example of old-world thinking that simply won’t do in the new world I inhabit. As it turned out, Jan and her mother, Susan, both joined me for pizza. Jan provided lettuce fresh from her garden and I the white wine. We had a delightful time listening to the The Brothers Four and planning Jan’s 61st birthday next Monday, May 14. I’ll ask her friend, Carol, to join us next Monday at a local restaurant, the Oyster and Thistle. Last year we’d had a great time celebrating Jan’s birthday at the Adrift restaurant in Anacortes. Then her friend Sandy had joined us. She has gotten sick since and has moved to be closer to family. A sad change but, of course, is part of the package. We will celebrate Sandy, lifting our glasses of champagne, to honor Jan’s dear friend.
