Retired yesterday. I feel about the same today. Woke up earlier today, walked the lake with dog and Debbie. It’s another day. Took a while coming. The stroke in December started talking to me, telling me it was time for a change. As it spoke to me I came to realize my own mortality, age, time and place in life.
Health crisis are often an awakening, not always but often. It was something I should have been awake to for a long time. But when you are asleep, well, you’re not really awake, are you?
So the stroke woke me. The last six months have been drawn out once I made the decision to retire. I don’t like saying I’m going to do something and then not doing it for half a year. I like deciding to do something and then doing it, hopefully this week if not next. But that six months is past. Now we are at the first day of the rest of the days. And I’m awake.
Maybe I was in denial before the stroke. Something nagging at me that my health needed overhaul, mental, emotional and especially physical. So I stopped putting it off and made the decision to retire. Good first step. My eating habits have improved. Good second step. My exercise habits are better, not great yet, but better. I’m thinking about other steps, faith, family, fellowship, fun, relationships, respite, recreation and remuneration. Wow, four Fs and four Rs.
So the point is, I’m still listening to my body and brain, soul and heart. I’ve got some slow down time here, good for listening. One thing right away I will do is pray. Pray for the person in deep distress yesterday. Pray for the daughter that is making a decision about her fathers future living space. Pray for the young person making job decisions. Pray for the crops coming off the fields. Pray for the dog down the street recovering from a leg amputation. There is lots to pray for.
Tip O’neill, Speaker of the house during Reagans time used to say, all politics is local. Prayer is that way as well. Maybe life is too. Its what’s close to you, local to you. That limits and expands your prayers at the same time, making you look around at what’s nearby instead of what is far away.
That’s how I’ll move through this day, one day at a time. Local eyes open to the local happenings. Listening to my surroundings.