It was a bonfire night in Lake Worth. I used to love these. Now, like anything in South Florida, it’s just another thing I do that I wonder if I can live without.
They have this guy who isn’t a great singer who also doesn’t have an ounce of showmanship. I love it when he takes breaks (every three songs) and puts on pop radio.
Of course he does sing good songs from “my” era. And he gave me a throwback last night.
“When I say out loud I want to get out of this
I wonder is there anything I’m going to miss.”
— Third Eye Blind, “How’s It Gonna Be”
It was a busy week. I like those. They distract from what’s not important. Like social media and other things that I’ve allowed to take up precious time that have had a low to nonexistent ROI.
Busyness also takes me away from what is important. Which, if my life has a theme, that’s it in a nutshell.
Staring at the fire, I remembered one of my last in-person conversations with someone. He said he missed me and I said, “Do you really?”
He pretended not to hear or understand. I didn’t repeat myself. Or say it back.
“I don’t see lightning like last fall
When it was always about to hit me.”
I don’t have a point here. I just have such a list of ideas and dreams and plans. And then you get stuck in your routine and you find things to pass the time that weren’t on your list.
Some people, like my parent friends, revel in the “somedays.” When the kid goes to college. When the spouse retires. When the parents leave them their inheritance. Then life will be what they wanted.
I envy my friend who reinvents herself every year. Always a new career or hobby or certification or dream trip. She ain’t waiting for nothing or nobody.
I don’t know how she does it. But she takes leaps and the world pulls out the safety net to catch her. And if she gets bored, no worries. She will be or do something else by this time next year anyway.
And that is my plan for the new year. Do what I want. So I can do something else. Enjoy what works until I don’t or it doesn’t. Fill the void until there isn’t one. But don’t be too quick to fill it because there has to be room for whatever should be there, whenever it comes along.
Simple, right?