I fall asleep with Nate when he’s going to bed…..and then, I get up to…. go to bed.
How wacky is that?
And it all feels like Groundhog Day….the movie where Bill Murray keeps waking up only to go through the same day, again….and…again….and again.
That’s a blessing….it would be crappy if something was upsetting the apple cart….again, and again, and again.
Repetition is a blessing when it’s something benign (and wonderful) like putting your children to bed.
I like it when nothing strange and upsetting is happening.
So….it’s 9:55…and I went to bed for the first time when it was 8:00….and I’m exhausted and disoriented and need to put on my PJs and get back into bed for a longer stretch of sleeping.
And, then, it will be time to wake up and have some coffee (with coconut oil in it….did you ever do that?) and get another day going…. again.
If Iohan can pedal around the world, why can’t I get a blog post up before the day is over?
Seems kind of hard to figure out somehow.
Here, our intrepid traveller is down in South America still….pedaling and seeing new sights…..recording it all for our benefit as he goes along.
(Remember the carousels of slides that we used to endure, “slide shows” of action packed holidays, static re-creation of our more active recreations? That was a while ago. I guess that some of us had 8 and 16mm movies, but the days of the GoPro were far in the future. I’m glad that we can make movies like this these days….it’s more interesting than watching a slide show.)
I am nearing the end of a 7 day vacation….and, other than relaxing and hanging out with my family, I don’t know what I used the time for.
“Relaxing….and hanging out with my family”…..that should be enough.
All this pedaling looks pretty amazing.
All these movies make me feel like Andy Griffith….looking at National Geographic with Floyd in the barber shop, dreaming of a bigger world outside of Mayberry.
I have enough on my plate right here….but it sure is fun to travel.
New Years Eve….and we’re watching “Moana” on Android TV on an older Nexus Player….and Maui says “you’re welcome” after coming back to save Moana….towards the end of the movie…and, for some reason, I thought of the guys at Chick-Fil-A saying “my pleasure” when they serve you and you say “thank you” to them.
“My pleasure”.
That’s beautiful.
We ate at a McDonalds in Greenville, and the guy behind the counter’s response to the same “thank you” was “not a problem”.
“Not a problem”?
Not so good.
Not as good as “my pleasure”.
It’s only when you have something as decent and kind as “my pleasure” to compare “not a problem” to do you start to see how weak a response “not a problem” is.
Why should it be a problem? They got your money….they aren’t doing you a favor. Why would it possibly be a problem?
Our ultimate pleasure on this earth is found in being in service to others.
I forget that.
I forget that with my family….and I forget that with the world at large.
I forget that the role that makes me really happy…is consciously making other people happy.
But, really now, why would a grumpy old fool like me ever remember something like that, anyway?
“My pleasure”?
I love that.
What a great response to a thankyou…..and…whether I mean it all the time or not, I should start working on giving that as a response when I am gifted with a “thank you”.
Because it is a gift for a kindness to be acknowledged.
It’s all a gift if I’m looking with the right eyes.
Seeing it all with the right eyes and perspective?
I got a copy of Tim Ferris’ new book, “Tools of Titans”, for Christmas, and one of the things that he mentioned that many of the people he’d interviewed in the book recommended was this speech by Neil Gaiman.
Art is hard, I guess.
That’s true, right?
Art must be hard.
I work for the Post Office now….driving a rural route….and I’m so very thankful that I have the opportunity to make a living and keep my family relatively financially stable.
That’s a real blessing to have that job.
It’s a perfect job, too….short periods of indirect supervision followed by a longer period of driving around and listening to the radio, putting mail in black boxes along the way, running packages to porches, talking to dogs….talking to people…..every day.
Every…..single….day. 46+ hours a week.
That’s a lot of life to trade for “making a living”.
I couldn’t ask for better, really.
Still, I chafe.
I chafe at the reins because, maybe, it isn’t “art”, whatever that means.
I’m not willing (or brave enough) to sacrifice my families stability for some dream that I didn’t work at developing before I was married and we had our children.
Maybe it’s just something else to complain about? Maybe the perceived loss of freedom is something that I’d be too scared or too lazy to act on….if I had the freedom to do it?
If I haven’t done it already, what makes me think that I’d do it if I wasn’t employed?
Good grief, though….there is something pretty enticing and noble about creating art.
It’s the thing that’s just beyond the tether….just out of reach of the junk yard dog….stretched to the limit, reaching….knowing that he’ll never taste what can’t be attained because of the thing that’s “holding him back”….that looks like the best thing he’ll never have.
My life is good….what more could I want?
Everything good.
That’s what I want…everything good.
Even if everything I have is pretty great….I want more …and better of it.
We went to see this tonight….the “boys” did, at least.
(My oldest daughter had seen it earlier in the week….and my wife and youngest daughter had no interest in it.)
We saw the movie in 3-D in a good theater with a great sound system, so the experience was about as good as it gets.
It’s a beautiful movie….beautiful special effects….but….I really didn’t mind when it was over.
I won’t miss any of the characters.
Of course, it wasn’t really set up for any sequels.
When you see it, you’ll know what I mean.
The chance of seeing most of these characters again is pretty slim.
It’s fun to go to the movies with my sons.
This was a good one to see with them (Nate is swinging a light saber behind my head as I type this)….but I don’t know if my high expectations were met by this one.
It’s a prequel to the whole story….so it has its place in the legend that Star Wars has developed over the years….but I don’t know that it’s one of my favorites.
