Again, I must apologize for the dearth of posts. I have been struggling with writer's ennui and it has been very difficult for me to just do it. The fact that my computer crashed, we have been sick/travelling/job hunting/home hunting/purpose hunting, etc. factors in, but they are all just things that excuses are made of, and I know that you don't want to hear excuses.
We have spent our time in the north and will be soon returning to the civilized lands of the big city. We have learned quite a bit up here, and there is much that I will miss, however, there is much that I will not miss. Having said that, let's focus on the positive.
A few months ago, we had a total lunar eclipse; some of you may remember it. It was an exciting experience for us, but especially for my son. Not only because he got to stay up past 01:00, and not only because he got to hang out with mom and dad (assuming he would find this exciting), but also because it was his first lunar eclipse. We lay on the living room floor with our heads as close to the window as possible. It was a fairly slow process, but a very cool one. When the moon was fully eclipsed and red, my wife and son decided that they could no longer keep their eyes open, so they went to bed. I chose to stay up a little longer. I went outside and looked up at a sky that was filled with stars. When I looked at the moon, my heart jumped. Hanging in the sky, with stars forming an intricate pattern around and behind it, was the shadow encrusted moon. It was beautiful. It was also unlike anything that I had ever seen or experienced before. I stood their and stared, not wanting to close my eyes. I took pictures, knowing that they would never come close to what I was experiencing but wanting to try anyway, and then I just stood there a little longer. After a while, but before the moon moved out of shadow, I went back into the house with this perfect memory planted in my head.
I would not have experienced this in the city.
No way.
Wildlife is abundant up here; both big and small. One morning, when I was leaving for work, I stepped out the back door and what did I see? A loose board hanging from my roof. I called my wife and asked her if she knew how long that had been like that. I was staring fixedly at the board, when my wife gasped. I looked at her, and she pointed and whispered, "There." I turned my head to the direction she was pointing and standing there was a very large moose. We stood and watched this moose, that was no more than ten feet away, munching on the trees, or whatever. We grabbed the video camera, and our digital camera and began recording the moment. After a while, the moose became aware of its audience and slowly began to move away after trying to stare us down.
That same morning, as I was driving to work, a mouse ran up my leg, and down the other side... I originally thought it was my phone vibrating, I remember thinking, "but why was it vibrating against my inner thigh, and not on the outside where it normally sits in my pocket?" I looked down to find out, and discovered that it was not my phone at all.
I could continue, and in other posts I will, but now I must put paid to this topic and move on for a bit. We will miss the country. However, we will also be glad to be back where we understand the rules and know how things work. Although we will be moving back to a very noisy, hectic, and sometimes chaotic world, it will be comfortable in many ways. We know where to go and where not to go. We know when things are open and when things are closed. We know we can have clean water from the tap instead of seeing leeches in the filter container, and we know that - most likely, we won't have to leave mousetraps in the car. We will miss the beauty, serenity, and often wonderful experiences that can only be had up here, but the north is always going to be here, and we can always return to visit.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Life has a way...
It's 16:30 (4:30 for those of you who don't read 24 hour clockese) and it's Friday. Normally, I would heave a big sigh of relief and think TGIF. However, weekends have become somewhat more crazy than my weekdays. Actually, they are about the same, so I guess that means that TGIF has got up and went. While it is wenting somewhere else, I will say instead, "So Far, So Good."
I won't lie, I have been feeling stressed and under the gun lately, and I am less than sure when that is going to change. The good news is that I said 'when' and not 'if'. Change is, as they say, inevitable. However, the form that that particular change will take is an unknown. I have come to believe that the unknown is not only good, but entirely necessary. Not only would knowing the future ruin the surprise, it would probably keep us as unhappy and miserable as it is possible to be. I know what anticipatory anxiety is, and I can tell you that it is almost always wrong. There have been very few times when things have been as bad or worse than I have feared them to be, and this has taught me to not only have a little faith, but to also believe that something good is around the corner waiting for me. I can't imagine what life would be like if I knew that someone was going to mug me, or how blase those wonderful moments in life would become if I was never taken by surprise.
Now let me be clear, I'm not talking about the "I-know-what-is-going-to-happen-so-I-can-change-it" type of future, I'm talking about the "I-know-what-is-going-to-happen-and-there-is-nothing-that-I-can-do-about-it" type future. It's kind of like watching a movie and you can clearly see that the defenseless young protagonist is going to walk into a dark alley infested with thugs and have a very nasty experience, and all of your yelling and waving at the screen is not going to change a thing.
What am I trying to say... it comes down to this: Life has a way of balancing and juggling events and experiences that would put the best circus performer to shame. Knowing what is to come takes the joy and pleasure out of experience, and if we are not here to experience, then what's the point. Yes, I am one of those... I believe in purpose and reasons for existence, and I believe that no matter what happens, we benefit from all of our experiences, especially the ones we don't see coming. I won't say that I will always be happy, and that there won't be a certain amount of sorrow and hardship in life, but as I said before existence is one big balancing act and life has a way...
I won't lie, I have been feeling stressed and under the gun lately, and I am less than sure when that is going to change. The good news is that I said 'when' and not 'if'. Change is, as they say, inevitable. However, the form that that particular change will take is an unknown. I have come to believe that the unknown is not only good, but entirely necessary. Not only would knowing the future ruin the surprise, it would probably keep us as unhappy and miserable as it is possible to be. I know what anticipatory anxiety is, and I can tell you that it is almost always wrong. There have been very few times when things have been as bad or worse than I have feared them to be, and this has taught me to not only have a little faith, but to also believe that something good is around the corner waiting for me. I can't imagine what life would be like if I knew that someone was going to mug me, or how blase those wonderful moments in life would become if I was never taken by surprise.
Now let me be clear, I'm not talking about the "I-know-what-is-going-to-happen-so-I-can-change-it" type of future, I'm talking about the "I-know-what-is-going-to-happen-and-there-is-nothing-that-I-can-do-about-it" type future. It's kind of like watching a movie and you can clearly see that the defenseless young protagonist is going to walk into a dark alley infested with thugs and have a very nasty experience, and all of your yelling and waving at the screen is not going to change a thing.
What am I trying to say... it comes down to this: Life has a way of balancing and juggling events and experiences that would put the best circus performer to shame. Knowing what is to come takes the joy and pleasure out of experience, and if we are not here to experience, then what's the point. Yes, I am one of those... I believe in purpose and reasons for existence, and I believe that no matter what happens, we benefit from all of our experiences, especially the ones we don't see coming. I won't say that I will always be happy, and that there won't be a certain amount of sorrow and hardship in life, but as I said before existence is one big balancing act and life has a way...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
What a wonderful world...
The other day, someone was giving me directions. They are as follows:
"You know XXXX?"*
"Yes"
"Alright. You know that dead moose on the side of the road just past XXXX? Well, you just go straight south from that dead moose and we'll be the second house on the right."
*The name of the place has been withheld because I don't want to get punched in the nose.
People in the country use roadkill as landmarks. Yes, they do. What's even weirder though, is that I knew exactly which dead moose was being mentioned. (Yes, there are often more than one.) Just when I think that I have adjusted to life in the sticks, something like this happens and I am forced to realize that I "don't know nothin yet." Everyday is a learning experience. Yesterday, I went looking for our missing cat. I must have walked for a half an hour around our property. At one point, after I had crawled down from a broken down swather, or combine, (It was hard to tell because hey... what do I know), I realized that in the city it would have taken me all of two minutes to look around the property, and I wouldn't have had to look in an assorted mass of old vehicles, shacks, barns, workshops, or small forests. I almost needed to have a search party come looking for me. I never found the cat, but I discovered an interesting odor in the middle of the woods out back... something had sprayed its musk out there and the smell was strong.
I miss the conveniences of the city, but the trade offs are worth not having them. At night, the sky is hard to see for all of the stars in the way. Some of the spots that I have visited and some of the sights that I have seen make up for the cityscape that I have left behind. That doesn't mean that I don't ever want to drink water from the tap again, or have consistent Internet connections, but there are things that can only be found out here, and to be honest, I find it pleasantly weird that someone could use a moose carcass as a road marker and I would actually know where to find it.
Now, to change things up a bit.
I have a wall of death. No, it's not what you think... yeah, I'm talking to you. As has been previously mentioned, many of my students love to hunt, and they often miss classes to do it. I was unhappy about this at first, but I was taken to task for my attitude. I thought about it for awhile and an idea occurred to me. I decided to recognize the hunters in my class by having them bring me pictures of their hunting successes. I post the pictures on the wall and the kids feel good about seeing their 'accomplishments'. So far, this has actually worked really well. Most of the kids don't miss class anymore, because they want to bring in pictures to put up on the wall. Eventually, the pics will take up all the room on my wall and I will have to expand it somewhat. None of the pics are gory or inappropriate, in fact, they are all rather tasteful. I don't mind it when I get some elk jerky either, but I won't be pinning that up on the wall...
"You know XXXX?"*
"Yes"
"Alright. You know that dead moose on the side of the road just past XXXX? Well, you just go straight south from that dead moose and we'll be the second house on the right."
*The name of the place has been withheld because I don't want to get punched in the nose.
People in the country use roadkill as landmarks. Yes, they do. What's even weirder though, is that I knew exactly which dead moose was being mentioned. (Yes, there are often more than one.) Just when I think that I have adjusted to life in the sticks, something like this happens and I am forced to realize that I "don't know nothin yet." Everyday is a learning experience. Yesterday, I went looking for our missing cat. I must have walked for a half an hour around our property. At one point, after I had crawled down from a broken down swather, or combine, (It was hard to tell because hey... what do I know), I realized that in the city it would have taken me all of two minutes to look around the property, and I wouldn't have had to look in an assorted mass of old vehicles, shacks, barns, workshops, or small forests. I almost needed to have a search party come looking for me. I never found the cat, but I discovered an interesting odor in the middle of the woods out back... something had sprayed its musk out there and the smell was strong.
I miss the conveniences of the city, but the trade offs are worth not having them. At night, the sky is hard to see for all of the stars in the way. Some of the spots that I have visited and some of the sights that I have seen make up for the cityscape that I have left behind. That doesn't mean that I don't ever want to drink water from the tap again, or have consistent Internet connections, but there are things that can only be found out here, and to be honest, I find it pleasantly weird that someone could use a moose carcass as a road marker and I would actually know where to find it.
Now, to change things up a bit.
I have a wall of death. No, it's not what you think... yeah, I'm talking to you. As has been previously mentioned, many of my students love to hunt, and they often miss classes to do it. I was unhappy about this at first, but I was taken to task for my attitude. I thought about it for awhile and an idea occurred to me. I decided to recognize the hunters in my class by having them bring me pictures of their hunting successes. I post the pictures on the wall and the kids feel good about seeing their 'accomplishments'. So far, this has actually worked really well. Most of the kids don't miss class anymore, because they want to bring in pictures to put up on the wall. Eventually, the pics will take up all the room on my wall and I will have to expand it somewhat. None of the pics are gory or inappropriate, in fact, they are all rather tasteful. I don't mind it when I get some elk jerky either, but I won't be pinning that up on the wall...
Monday, November 8, 2010
It's a conspiracy, I tell you...
I've been reading Dan Brown's, "The Lost Symbol". It's fluff reading, but it has been nice to read something non-pedagogical. Just so you know, this is not going to be a book review, or a critique... Anyway, in typical Brownian style, conspiracies abound throughout the book. There are mentions of different groups, but the group that is the main focus of the story is the Freemasons. As I have been reading, I have found myself wondering about secret knowledge, puzzles, theories, etc. I know that like most writers, Brown takes factual information and twists it just enough to make a story more interesting. Just try to get most people to read a treatise on freemasonry, and you'll see what I mean. However, he does make some very good points.
How often do we look at other belief systems and think they are just a bunch of quackery, or mumbo jumbo? Here is an example: Brown describes a special room where a mason can go to reflect and meditate. In this room there are bones, a skull, a candle, a plate of salt, a plate of sulfur, etc. Everything has a specific place and setting, and everything represents something else. Now, many people might find this rather strange. However, is it any stranger than practicing ritual cannibalism, or revering finger bones? I want to be clear here. I am not criticizing any belief systems. I am not poking fun at them, or trying to slander them in any way. What I am trying to do is say that when we look at any beliefs in a certain light, they might sound crazy, but only in a certain light. Change the way we look at things and some of these beliefs don't seem so strange after all. Many Christians partake of the communion. The wine represents the blood of Christ and the wafer represents the body. In a certain light, this could be seen as ritual cannibalism. Relics are revered in many places, and these relics are bones, or hair, or blood. The different objects in the masonic room of meditation represent mortality, truth, light, wisdom, etc, and when looked at in this light don't seem so strange afterall. In fact, these are all things that most of us do seek after.
Now, let me step down from my soapbox. I love puzzles, and I love mysteries... not the detective story, whodunit type of mysteries, which can be fun, but the ones that deal with the unknown, or the hidden. I also love to learn. I love to learn new things. I especially like to learn new things about old things; I just can't can't get enough. I sometimes wish that I was wealthy enough to actually spend my time learning the things that I want to learn, do the things that would help me to learn, and then share that learning with any who would be interested to learn my learning... erm... yeah... Anyway, It's a dream that, someday, may become a reality.
I know that this post may open up some cans that I wish had stayed closed. I also know that there may be some who misunderstand what I have written, and take offence where none at all is intended. I hope that I am wrong.
I guess the ultimate rush for me would be to solve some ancient mystery, or puzzle. I know most people would be more excited to do something like climb Everest, or K2, or go to the moon, etc, but for me knowledge is the ultimate frontier. You can neither have to much knowledge, nor can you have all knowledge. This is wonderful. It means that the adventure can continue forever because there will always be more to learn...
How often do we look at other belief systems and think they are just a bunch of quackery, or mumbo jumbo? Here is an example: Brown describes a special room where a mason can go to reflect and meditate. In this room there are bones, a skull, a candle, a plate of salt, a plate of sulfur, etc. Everything has a specific place and setting, and everything represents something else. Now, many people might find this rather strange. However, is it any stranger than practicing ritual cannibalism, or revering finger bones? I want to be clear here. I am not criticizing any belief systems. I am not poking fun at them, or trying to slander them in any way. What I am trying to do is say that when we look at any beliefs in a certain light, they might sound crazy, but only in a certain light. Change the way we look at things and some of these beliefs don't seem so strange after all. Many Christians partake of the communion. The wine represents the blood of Christ and the wafer represents the body. In a certain light, this could be seen as ritual cannibalism. Relics are revered in many places, and these relics are bones, or hair, or blood. The different objects in the masonic room of meditation represent mortality, truth, light, wisdom, etc, and when looked at in this light don't seem so strange afterall. In fact, these are all things that most of us do seek after.
Now, let me step down from my soapbox. I love puzzles, and I love mysteries... not the detective story, whodunit type of mysteries, which can be fun, but the ones that deal with the unknown, or the hidden. I also love to learn. I love to learn new things. I especially like to learn new things about old things; I just can't can't get enough. I sometimes wish that I was wealthy enough to actually spend my time learning the things that I want to learn, do the things that would help me to learn, and then share that learning with any who would be interested to learn my learning... erm... yeah... Anyway, It's a dream that, someday, may become a reality.
I know that this post may open up some cans that I wish had stayed closed. I also know that there may be some who misunderstand what I have written, and take offence where none at all is intended. I hope that I am wrong.
I guess the ultimate rush for me would be to solve some ancient mystery, or puzzle. I know most people would be more excited to do something like climb Everest, or K2, or go to the moon, etc, but for me knowledge is the ultimate frontier. You can neither have to much knowledge, nor can you have all knowledge. This is wonderful. It means that the adventure can continue forever because there will always be more to learn...
Monday, November 1, 2010
A Stranger in a Strange Land...
It has been too long since I have posted anything, and I am going to repent of this starting now. I have been adjusting to a new life, in a new place, in a new (to me) part of the country, and it has been interesting and life changing. I have moved several hundred kilometres north of where I lived in Edmonton, to a place called Silver Valley (Sounds almost magical, doesn't it. I sometimes expect little pixies, or fairies to pop out from around corners and such.)
Life in the country has been a real adjustment for me and my family. No more traffic, no more noise, no more quick trips to the store, and no more frivolous activities like spur of the moment movie going, or visits to the mall. We now travel forty-five minutes to get to the nearest town, which is in the next province over, so we have to mentally adjust our clocks since they are in a different time zone. Life is different here, but it is a good different. I keep waiting to hear banjos, etc, but luckily none so far.
We took our kids out trick or treating, and it was quite the experience. It took us three hours to visit seven places, but people out here are generous, and they doled out the loot to the kids in huge quantities. It would have taken at least ten times the number of houses in the city to bring in the same haul.
This post is turning into more of a 'journal' than I want it to, please bear with me...
I have found myself wondering when the laid back country life was going to occur. I have been busier here than I ever have been before. I'm not complaining, but it would be nice to slow down things a little. We live on 162 acres of land (a section), and it has taken time to get used to looking out the window and seeing almost nothing as far as the eye can see. My wife has gotten into the habit of taking the kids for walks through the fields, and forests around our place, and on those opportunities that I have had the chance to go with them, I have been grateful. There is a peacefulness out here that is unequalled. We have made a few trips down to the Peace river, and it has always been a beautiful and wonderful experience. My son is a rock hound, as am I, and on these trips we have loaded up our trunk with the treasures that we have found. We have brought home fossils, petrified wood, water carved rocks, and even some really cool looking driftwood. Our home is starting to look like a museum, but it is something that my son and I can share with each other, and that is more important to me than the actual rocks, etc themselves.
My children have grown in some surprising ways. They are quickly gaining a maturity that they lacked in the city, they are better friends to each other, and there is a bond within our family that is stronger than ever. I am grateful for it.
We are adapting to the country in other ways as well. We have a cat that never comes in the house, I own, and wear, a pair of 'gumboots', (Wellies, to you British folk), and I have 'enjoyed' mowing the vast yard we have with a rider mower.
We buy our drinking water in 18.9 litre bottles, and we wash our clothes, dishes, etc with water from a dugout. our plumbing takes our 'waste' water to a lagoon not far away from the house, although it is far enough away that it doesn't smell. The truth is that it doesn't smell even when you are close by it, (but I still wouldn't want to fall in...)
Hunting is huge out here, and almost everyone uses antlers in their decorating, although, very few are as bad as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. We have a rock display in the front that highlights a rack of antlers still connected to an elk skull. Surrounding this are several antlers. A friend from England said that it reminded him of "Pet Cemetery", and I guess it does, but my kids love playing there... what does that say about my kids...
The long and short of this whole post is that we are now in a world that we never thought we would be in, but that we are finding will most definitely change our lives. In the end, isn't that what life is all about? As they say, it is the journey and experiences we have while traveling the road of life that matter the most, and I am grateful for every step that I take on my own version of the hero's journey.
Life in the country has been a real adjustment for me and my family. No more traffic, no more noise, no more quick trips to the store, and no more frivolous activities like spur of the moment movie going, or visits to the mall. We now travel forty-five minutes to get to the nearest town, which is in the next province over, so we have to mentally adjust our clocks since they are in a different time zone. Life is different here, but it is a good different. I keep waiting to hear banjos, etc, but luckily none so far.
We took our kids out trick or treating, and it was quite the experience. It took us three hours to visit seven places, but people out here are generous, and they doled out the loot to the kids in huge quantities. It would have taken at least ten times the number of houses in the city to bring in the same haul.
This post is turning into more of a 'journal' than I want it to, please bear with me...
I have found myself wondering when the laid back country life was going to occur. I have been busier here than I ever have been before. I'm not complaining, but it would be nice to slow down things a little. We live on 162 acres of land (a section), and it has taken time to get used to looking out the window and seeing almost nothing as far as the eye can see. My wife has gotten into the habit of taking the kids for walks through the fields, and forests around our place, and on those opportunities that I have had the chance to go with them, I have been grateful. There is a peacefulness out here that is unequalled. We have made a few trips down to the Peace river, and it has always been a beautiful and wonderful experience. My son is a rock hound, as am I, and on these trips we have loaded up our trunk with the treasures that we have found. We have brought home fossils, petrified wood, water carved rocks, and even some really cool looking driftwood. Our home is starting to look like a museum, but it is something that my son and I can share with each other, and that is more important to me than the actual rocks, etc themselves.
My children have grown in some surprising ways. They are quickly gaining a maturity that they lacked in the city, they are better friends to each other, and there is a bond within our family that is stronger than ever. I am grateful for it.
We are adapting to the country in other ways as well. We have a cat that never comes in the house, I own, and wear, a pair of 'gumboots', (Wellies, to you British folk), and I have 'enjoyed' mowing the vast yard we have with a rider mower.
We buy our drinking water in 18.9 litre bottles, and we wash our clothes, dishes, etc with water from a dugout. our plumbing takes our 'waste' water to a lagoon not far away from the house, although it is far enough away that it doesn't smell. The truth is that it doesn't smell even when you are close by it, (but I still wouldn't want to fall in...)
Hunting is huge out here, and almost everyone uses antlers in their decorating, although, very few are as bad as Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. We have a rock display in the front that highlights a rack of antlers still connected to an elk skull. Surrounding this are several antlers. A friend from England said that it reminded him of "Pet Cemetery", and I guess it does, but my kids love playing there... what does that say about my kids...
The long and short of this whole post is that we are now in a world that we never thought we would be in, but that we are finding will most definitely change our lives. In the end, isn't that what life is all about? As they say, it is the journey and experiences we have while traveling the road of life that matter the most, and I am grateful for every step that I take on my own version of the hero's journey.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Just a short note...
It has been a while since I posted anything, and I have really missed it. As I stated in my last post, I was in for a big move, well, that move has happened and it was really big. In many ways, I am still adjusting. The upshot is that I will be doing a new post within the next couple of days, but I thought I would just drop in to let everyone know that I had not forgotten, or lost interest in this blog.
See you soon, and thanks for being patient...
See you soon, and thanks for being patient...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Changes...
Although I have decided to write more here about writing, I will also continue to blog about thoughts and ideas, my life, and anything that I feel like blogging about. I also feel a very strong tendency to write sort of stream of consciousnessly coming on, so please bear with me. Right now I want to write about changes. In fact, you could define my life lately with that word.
I have been offered a teaching position about six hours north of where I currently live. Since this makes a commute a little difficult, we have decided to move closer to the school that I will be working at. The job itself is an incredible opportunity. I will be teaching in my subject specialization (English) as well as French, photography, and video. However, I will be living on 162 acres of farm land that is at least 45 minutes from the nearest town, (Spirit River, or Dawson Creek), and an hour and a half from the nearest city, (Grande Prairie), which means that we will be far more isolated than we are used to.
I really don't want this blog to become an announcement page, but I need to say all of this to illustrate my point. Our lives will be changing... drastically. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. In fact, this is an opportunity that would be hard to find anywhere else. However, very many things will be very different for us, but here's the kicker... wait for it... wait for it... change is only temporary. Tada! Really, it is. When we moved into the house we are currently living in, I told my wife that it felt like a house and not a home. I also told her that I felt that I would never be able to call it a home. Well, now that we are moving, I am feeling sad about leaving the 'home' that I became very comfortable in and very fond of.
Change is temporary. Let me explain. Change and time work very closely together, in fact, you might even call them two aspects of the same job. Change occurs and time comes along and smooths everything over. It's kind of like time follows change closely and cleans up any messes that change might make. It has been said that time is the great healer, well it is. It is also the great fixer upper, the great cleaner upper, and the great big, soft mattress that we land on when change comes along and throws us off of the electric bull, so to speak. Time makes everything all better.
This doesn't mean that change is always easy, but since we live our lives uni-directionally from past to future, we know that the great temporal shift of time will come along and make everything better if we will let it. That's the key. We can choose to let go of that which is left behind, or we can hold on so tightly that time would need a crowbar to pry it out of our hands and minds. It comes down to what almost everything comes down to... choice. Well, we have gone from change to choice... what's next?
Well, we'll have to wait for the next post to find out the answer. Don't worry, I won't change my mind. I won't change channels, or change direction, or even change places or positions. I will post an answer to the question, "what next", and that's a promise that isn't going to change...
I have been offered a teaching position about six hours north of where I currently live. Since this makes a commute a little difficult, we have decided to move closer to the school that I will be working at. The job itself is an incredible opportunity. I will be teaching in my subject specialization (English) as well as French, photography, and video. However, I will be living on 162 acres of farm land that is at least 45 minutes from the nearest town, (Spirit River, or Dawson Creek), and an hour and a half from the nearest city, (Grande Prairie), which means that we will be far more isolated than we are used to.
I really don't want this blog to become an announcement page, but I need to say all of this to illustrate my point. Our lives will be changing... drastically. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. In fact, this is an opportunity that would be hard to find anywhere else. However, very many things will be very different for us, but here's the kicker... wait for it... wait for it... change is only temporary. Tada! Really, it is. When we moved into the house we are currently living in, I told my wife that it felt like a house and not a home. I also told her that I felt that I would never be able to call it a home. Well, now that we are moving, I am feeling sad about leaving the 'home' that I became very comfortable in and very fond of.
Change is temporary. Let me explain. Change and time work very closely together, in fact, you might even call them two aspects of the same job. Change occurs and time comes along and smooths everything over. It's kind of like time follows change closely and cleans up any messes that change might make. It has been said that time is the great healer, well it is. It is also the great fixer upper, the great cleaner upper, and the great big, soft mattress that we land on when change comes along and throws us off of the electric bull, so to speak. Time makes everything all better.
This doesn't mean that change is always easy, but since we live our lives uni-directionally from past to future, we know that the great temporal shift of time will come along and make everything better if we will let it. That's the key. We can choose to let go of that which is left behind, or we can hold on so tightly that time would need a crowbar to pry it out of our hands and minds. It comes down to what almost everything comes down to... choice. Well, we have gone from change to choice... what's next?
Well, we'll have to wait for the next post to find out the answer. Don't worry, I won't change my mind. I won't change channels, or change direction, or even change places or positions. I will post an answer to the question, "what next", and that's a promise that isn't going to change...
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