First whales of the season today. Five or six Orcas. Cruising slow. Pffft. Pffft. Pffft. Neat. Always nice to see ’em.
Friend called last night. “Wanna do some millin’? I got some logs here and I heard that you want some cedar. Wanna help work ’em into lumber? I’ll give ya some cedar?”
“Sure. Do we have to do it in the rain? Can we do it when it’s convenient? Will your wife make us tea and cookies?”
“Never mind. I’ll do it myself!”
“What about the cookies?”
Another friend called later. Some bad news. Cancer. I hate that. I just hate that. I just really, really hate that. I suppose I would hate hearing any kind of bad news about anyone I care about but it just seems so awful when it happens to someone who lives life so fully as he does. He probably still will. They have it ‘in hand’ early. He’s a tough old bird. Fill ‘im full of chemicals, radiate the hell out of him and he will likely be good to go. I just hope he goes in the right direction. Same direction as the one I am planning on. We both wanna go forward a bit longer. I was kinda hoping that we could travel this mortal coil some more together….like 30 or so more years.
We’ll hafta see about that.
I have no intention of bumming you out. Lots of good stuff going on. I’ll get to it as the seasons unfold. But, right now, I am reminded once again of our fleeting-ness. Our brevity of being.
Pffft.
I’ve lost a few friends these past few years. Inevitable, I guess. Life. Getting to 67 means lasting longer than some. Can’t complain about something you know is a fact. We all have to go. Sometime. No, the point is NOT about death (I really expect him to make it a lot longer. I really expect ME to make it a lot longer, too) it is about life.
Both Sal and I have been struck recently by how fast it is passing. Like a blink, actually. So, don’t wait for it to happen. Get on with it. Follow a dream. Chase a rainbow. Don’t let TV or too much dull work take any more of your time.
OMG, am I glad Sal and I have done stuff. Even the stupid stuff. ESPECIALLY the stupid stuff! And I really intend to do more of it, stupid or otherwise. And I am especially glad we didn’t wait to do it. We didn’t wait til we were supposed to retire. We didn’t wait til 65. We didn’t wait until we were ‘secure’ financially or otherwise. We are wingin’ it on a prayer! (well, to some extent, anyway…no sense in being too silly)
I have no idea what the point of it all is but I can assure you that it is NOT about watching TV or punching a clock. Or shopping! Or RRSPs! Whatever it is, we both feel that we are closer to it living out here doing this than we have ever been.
The key word in the phrase living off the grid is L-I-V-I-N-G.
This is good. Really good. It is ALL good. Did I mention the whales? The cookies? And my plans to do some millin’? It really does NOT get any better!
Our Off the Grid Home 
It does give one pause to reflect as I often do over the obits in the local paper. The other day a friend appeared, a teaching colleague, my former administrator dead one day short of his sixty-eighth birthday. He and I are of an age and his passing was unexpected. He had retired twelve years age to his wood lot outside town and there he died in his sleep a few days ago. He was exceptional in his work of communicating with teenagers and his influence on them will be life long.
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Sheeeeeesh…….’one day short of his 68th….’ And here I am just a few days into my 67th…………
See what I mean? Grim, dramatic, in-your-face reminders.
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Life is kinda strange.
When I was in my teens an inordinate amount of friends and or school chums died in car crashes, suicides, cancer, etc. and then through the next 30 years very little in the way of anyone passing. A few cancer scares but mostly nothing.
Now, in my mid 50’s the Grim Reaper seems to be rearing his ugly head again. The same types of incidents are taking people away.
Growing old SUCKS! But waddaya do? My genetics will probably keep me around for another 40 years……
The only positve thing is BC has some of the worlds best cancer research, training and cutting edge treatment.
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Small consolation. Like telling the French prisoner, “Don’t worry, the guillotine is really sharp!”
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That’s just exceptionally well said, Dave. Thanks for putting it out here.
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Thanks, John. You are welcome. And you are not the target audience. You are already out there. But I know that some readers are thinking, “…..easy for you to say! You are NOW out there and hurling taunts and dares. Not easy for everyone to extricate, ya know!”
And I apologize. I hope it did not come across as a dare or a taunt. It is just that I see so many of my friends anchored by circumstance and NOT living fully. And then – every once in awhile – I am reminded that we have only so much time. And, for those who read my blog (oldies), there is not SO much left. I just hope we all get a chance to empty our bucket list.
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Namaste.
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Back at ya but I think you are bowing to the devil within me……….;)
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