Monday, June 23, 2008

Downright Dirt Dumb

One of the 60th year goals I set was to earn a color belt in TKD (in which my 10 year old son is a First Degree Black Belt). Tonight we sparred and it has been QUITE a long time since I did anything in competition against another human. Add to that the fact that as one of the few adults in the class I had to spar against a couple of third degrees and a fourth degree BB.

Now did I say I was like dirt stupid? Oh yea the title. Well I jumped right in like I was 30something and I am not.

Men are like that. Ow.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wine Tasting

A friend of ours is having a hand fasting (not really a full fast - their hands are going to drink water or something) this weekend. We thought we would buy the wine. So I have a new mission in life - beyond the spiritual one - only still dealing with the spirit. I have to select the best (of the least expensive) wines we can bring. Believe me we aren't wealthy so price and flavor are both a major factor.

Now before we go getting all fancy schmancy let me qualify the discussion. Rule one I learned years ago was if you find a wine you like, stick to it. So after years of consuming one particular label and vintner (my fav) I finally found myself in the valley at their winery and decided to taste their premium wine. Same grape, just top of the heap. So tasting this grape (whose signature flavor I could ID in a line up blindfolded) I asked the steward what the difference was between it and the $20 bottle I usually bought. He explained. I did not understand. I smiled broadly. It tasted not a bit different from my favorite despite the $125 price tag. I learned that day that I had a marginally discriminate palate - cheap drunk, my wife calls it.

So tonight I have three Cabernet's and an Argentine Merlot. Sip after sip I am doing my best to find the best $4 bottle I can buy a whole bunch of. The only problem is that now I forget which one is which. I know I think I liked this one but then again this other one has a subtle undertone of berry, but, no that was that one, or was it.

Hic. Better stop, tomorrow's a work day!

Monday, June 16, 2008

How Old Are You?

Having just turned 59, I got this crazy thought in my head that I might like to set some goals for the coming year - my sixtieth year on this planet. Some are sane goals like I want to have something published within the year (I am currently working on three different fronts at once) and I want to be able to jog/walk a 5K fun race like the Feaster Five in Andover.

Let me explain. Several years ago I had a goal of running a marathon and when I hit 48, it occurred to me that I was getting no younger. So I set out to do it and with the help of some great coaches at Dana Farber, I completed not one but two for them as a charity runner. I figured that was enough but when my 9-month old son had cranial surgery at Children's Hospital, I was so impressed and grateful that I decided to run one more for charity.

That did me in and severely blew a disc in my back and partially severed the nerve sending signals to my left calf (are you following this?). As a result I now have an atrophied left calf and weeble when I walk - no more running.

So I decided to go out for TaeKwonDo (I go twice a week anyway to support my son - why not get a workout?). So here I am a 59 year old white belt hanging out in a room full of black belts and trying to fit in (ego is a nasty thing). Honestly I cannot help myself, nor can I stop myself. I keep thinking I am 29 not 59 and best as I can tell there is a difference.

Back in the Saddle

Well I have been out of pocket for some time tryinng to figure out what to say and do in this space. Many of my old postings had been written as an expression of creative writing - and often a tad lengthy. I do not know what works in the blogosphere but am here to find out.

Like everything I experience, life is not in the knowing but in living into the not knowing. Faith, says Carolyn Myss, is a by-rpoduct of living: "in order to have faith, you have to have a challenge that requires you find it." I think that is so true for everything.

I have a friend who is about to give up on his relationship with a magnificent woman, because, as he puts it, he is not ready, and he does not know who he really is. I told him today that, unfortunately, you only find out the end of the story on the last page and then it is too late to have a relationship, because the last sentence on that page is "you die." Life is the process of figuring things out one event at a time and relationship is what happens when two people try to do that while living into the answers together.

I love the messy unpredictable part of life - Rumi would call it succulent and juicy! He's right.