I’m a believer of sorts or else a believer who gets out of sorts for some reason or another.
Yet I can sing a song at least:
“This is the day, this is the day,
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice,
And be glad in it, and be glad in it!
This is the day, this is the day.
This is the day the Lord has made.”
For sure, if there is a God who is watching over us, and I hope there is, then I am most
grateful to be alive and well at the august age of 80 on this sunny day in September.
One thing, though, is that I never take my life for granted and that makes the most
difference to me.
Indeed, after being a cancer survivor, I can’t give all the credit to
myself, but I can give most of the credit to my wife who saved my life and refused to
give up on me. So you see where I stand on this glorious day for being? An old MUSE
once said to me not to be: “a would-be-if-I-could-be or a could-be-if-I-would-be.” In
the final analysis, this life, such as it is, is to be held most sacred in two words:
“JUST BE!”
If there isn’t a God, and this is a most frightful and sobering thought, then by
instinct and sound moral reasoning, we must trust in one another, using LOVE and
HONOR, and thereby find ourselves by looking into our souls and by following our own
dreams wherever they lie. Perhaps life is where great LOVE is: there you will find miracles
and you will surely discover to your delight the PLACE where GOD is.
Annemarie and I are retired from the military academy and we are doing whatever we
can be kind to one another after the sadness of departing from the teaching we
have done in the past ten years. Such is our time to find LOVE for ourselves and others
so we shall know by glancing back at the good times we had together with our affection
for all those teachers on the faculty.
Annemarie and I understand that on our life’s journey, we will never retire for we will be
busier than ever to suit our own intrinsic needs. It is strange to find ourselves in
Wisconsin after having lived for so long in New
England, yet we love it here and have enjoyed all the many friendships we hold dear. In
spite of all the ructions going on in the world, we certainly must continue to live the
The finest way we can.
After breakfast, Janemarie goes to get her hair done in Hartland while I water our garden
and keep our condo shipshape since the admiral and his wife are coming to take us to
their timeshare in Duck Key, North Carolina to spend a holiday there.
I walk early in the morning and leave our condo in Somerset Ridge since I’m a creature of
habit by walking every day that is unless I’m playing golf or riding my old Trek bike.
No matter what sort of mood I’m in, (I want you to know I’m in a jovial spirit most of the
time), I set out for a three-mile walk in the open air and blue sky along the Nature Trail
with all its spells of memories and dreams. I purely love the panorama before me:
The wild hillsides, cottontails looking for their hiding places, multitudes of flower in the
fields, especially Queen’s Anne’s Lace so much in abundance, the sad remains of an
old crumbling red barn that was once an integral function of a family’s farm in Waukesha,
Wisconsin. I see the shimmering poplars along with their shining leaves so glorious in
their dancing orbits, and, of course, all the dandelions lying in the meadows. I’ve always
loved the buttercups everywhere I go. I am prone to wax a little bit poetic:
“I’m at the age now
when I don’t rightly care which flower comes up:
I’ll settle for the buttercup.”
Summarily, LOVE is the only place where your true friends are waiting wherever they
may be. The greatest aspect in life is to have a friend who will go the last mile with you.
In other words, to have a friend is one thing, yet to be a true friend is the greatest
reward in life.
