MUSING ABOUT LIFE

Another day is done and the evening is here. More wimpy clouds and a few sprinkles that immediately evaporated. I'm still hoping a desert downpour will come along. Just have to see.

Anyway, I'm still kicking and life isn't too bad. It still has its interests and joys after all these years. Overall, I've been blessed over what my parents were able to enjoy and experience. Mom never even got to fly in an airplane because of my father's fears. I've flown to Hawaii twice and those are memories I treasure. I've been to New York city; even lived there over a year. I've seen most of the continental 49 states.

There are things I could still put on a bucket list, but they're not great needs, just things that would be interesting and nice. I'll probably just have to be content to spend the rest of my days here in Arizona, which isn't all that bad a piece of geography.

I do dream of winnng a lot of money, along with every other human, and being able to join in some humanist and atheist conferences and get-togethers and become even more active in ways that count. In the meantime, Facebooking and blogging will just have to do.

I have no idea where many of the people I used to be close to are or even if they're still alive. We're becoming a vanishing, and often debilated, bunch. It seems many of them aren't too engaged in modern communications. I've searched the internet for dozens of them and have found nothing.

I comfort myself by realizing that what I'm experiencing is nothing new. Every generation before me has traveled a similar path for tens of thousands of years. It's the only game in town, so I try to play and enjoy it while I can.

To those who are younger, I say, grab all you can out of life every day. Make the time count and do your best to make the regrets as few as possible. Be sensible and prudent, but don't let unreasonable fear hold you back. Nothing is predestined. You determine what your life story will be, but there will still be happenstances and forks in the road you didn't and can't plan for.

It's an adventure. Make the most of it. Then, bow out as gracefully as possible.