Half Past Four


FD Thornton - 2017

Right now I got Bill Evans playing on my headphones and while I feel a certain amount of contentment, the world feels oddly in limbo. Almost like it’s waiting for the other​ shoe to drop. Recently I stop by to chat with a friend, but they were far too busy to talk. They were knee deep into their latest project to stop. But that’s alright, we get like that sometimes, we get so wrapped up in our own little thing we forget. Forget that the point of it all this is to live, laugh, and enjoy each other. To connect and just be.

Still we move around busying ourselves with whatever we think is important. I did this myself for a really long time, jumping from one project to the next. Never making time to enjoy the fruits of my labor. You may ask have you finally been able to reap the benefits of all that running around? The answer would be, No. Instead I brought myself some time lying flat on my back wondering when, if ever, I’d catch my next breath. 

Setting goals and planning for the future are important things, don’t get me wrong. The problem arises when we allow those priorities to overtake who we are. We become so dependent on consuming we’ve forgotten about living, being, and communing with others as well as nature. At the moment one of my greatest pleasures is walking and being outside. To do as I really enjoy it requires fuel for my truck, a park pass, and my phone. All these things require money. But if time or money is a problem, I can always walk the neighborhood and freak out the neighbors. “Honey, that weird dude from down the street is walking again.”

My point is we are a social creature. We thrive on contact with each other. When we focus on ourselves and nothing else, we aren’t living, we’re just doing. All I’m saying is make time to be with your peers. Make friends outside your circle. Take it from me, expanding that circle can open your eyes to a whole new side of yourself you never thought possible.  So get out there and be…human.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fail-Safe

Image
Through the paper-thin walls of this old house, I can hear my neighbors getting ready for another day. Laying here remember when I used to do that, working at night so I could take care of the kids, while my wife went to work. Yesterday sorta marked a tipping point for me I suppose. I finally got my consultation with the gastroenterologist. So we are working the set-up some tests my primary care physician has been wanting for me to have for months. While I would love nothing more than to tell my PCP, “I told you so”. But I suppose knowing is better than not knowing. Although I do find some comfort in ignorant bliss.  I get the impression some people feel I am an optimist. But I like to think of myself more as a realist. What some may mistake as optimism is actually nothing more than analytics. Where I breakdown a given situation and create a solution. That may sound cold and frankly less romantic. But you must understand, after living so long in a void of no emotion (due to
Read more

Moments You've Lived

Image
It’s 5:15 in the afternoon and my stupid ass is back outside. I just checked the phone and it’s a balmy 90° with a feel like temperature of 99°f. I figured since I was hot in the room with the AC on, I might as well come outside and do same thing. Earlier I read a funny meme from my sibling on Facebook that read, “Can someone send me a hug?” copy and share. Rather sarcastically I replied, “We are not huggers , didn’t we grow up in the same house?” Probably no truer words have ever been spoken about our lives as kids. Oh, we weren’t beaten or overly abused, we were just not raised all “touchy feely”. Not surprisingly most kids of our generation weren’t raised that way either. We were provided for in our working class suburban homes. It’s just that a lot of time wasn’t devoted to things like feelings and emotions. You were expected to tough it out and swallow those tears. I guess one place where we could let our emotions go was church. Raised during the infancy of the “Pentecostal Moveme
Read more

Blowing Breeze

Image
It’s later in the afternoon so I decided to take advantage of the lighter humidity and come back outside. There’s a lite breeze blowing so while the gnats are still out, at least they’re having to put in some extra effort to lite on me. You can still smell where the grass got cut this morning, but sadly the faint scent of BBQ from the restaurant down the street is gone.  The poor old sycamore tree leaves look a bit sad. Hanging like they’re on their last leg from the limbs. There’s no point in bringing up the fig bush/tree, it’s all but shed most of its leaves. It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago both plants were vibrant and green, with a bountiful crop of figs. But the birds have mostly abandon their nest in the fig branches. With the kids grown and the shade and food supply dried up, I can’t say I blame them.  But I’m the human here, I’m adaptable with opposable thumbs. I can’t move on as easily as the birds. My so-called cognitive reasoning insist I stick aro
Read more