Reflections....

 

Sadly, this is a poor photo of my regional library. After receiving an e-mail advising that my card was due to expire, I made a brief stop there during my Saturday errands to renew it. This took but a few minutes during which I was reminded just how pleasant it can be to work in or visit a library regardless of type. These days, I interact with the public library system in my community from either a home computer or a Kindle, and that is simply not as gratifying to me though it does save time, travel and money.

There was a point in my life when I was prepared to move across the country for a library         job and the possibility of entering a doctoral program. At fifty, I erroneously assumed I still had a lot of time in the workforce. Medical issues and a loss of the use of a leg put paid to those ideas and I spent the next few years learning life from a chair and re-organizing both my apartment and personal and professional priorities.

 Along the way, I also lost friends and loved ones to accidents, old age, illnesses and tragedies. This also re-configured the world and it was not at all as I had known it. Some shifts are small, others seismic. While I cannot claim any great epiphanies, I do feel and often react very differently now as a result of these experiences.

I seek a simpler life with fewer complications and human relationships, and that,
unfortunately, is not fully realized because as all but the most obtuse among us grasp, life remains complicated no matter how much we simplify. Though I have reduced possessions, rid myself of clutter and items no longer used or desired, routed out two individuals who were duplicitous, streamlined financial and other obligations and work at being frugal, my routines often reflect the medical needs of the last of four cats and my increasing desire for rest and privacy in the face of yet another looming loss.

Until Next Time...

ShSh...

That isn't the best sunset photo but it will have to do. It was snapped as I was on the way from my local produce stand to do errands the other day...

Things appear to have reached an even keel here at last. Jacob is eating, sleeping and doing all other bodily functions with greater regularity. For a creature with the equivalent age in human years of about eighty whose kidneys are failing slowly, this is important. With no less than six medications, he is comfortable and I am less anxious. Sleep has returned to this once bleary-eyed human, at least for now.

Apart from visiting the dentist, having a bit of a clear out getting bills paid off, the week has been unremarkable. The cleaner came yesterday so the flat is tip top. I'm now reading four books at once and have finished two. I would recommend Quiet, by Susan Cain.

It is chock full of interesting studies and information that helps dispel the
culturally-ingrained idea that being an introvert is less desirable or acceptable than is its counterpart. The book also explores how we, and I include myself in the introvert group, think about a range of things from our inner lives, relationships, work and money.

Because one's tendencies toward introversion begin in infancy and are present throughout the life span, parents and teachers may also benefit from this book. Among the many interesting points Cain and others make is that many people are introverts without being shy or socially anxious. While I recognize and appreciate my introversion, I am not shy and rarely experience anxiety. Those would have made my work in the professional world impossible. What I am, however, is quiet. I observe and take in and then decide if or to what degree to discuss or participate. The older I get, the more quiet around and within I desire.

As for viewing, I chose a reality series about life in the Alaskan Bush from Netflix this week because I wanted a peek at a place I will never be able to visit: the Arctic tundra. The series includes couples and singles and one large family whose mother is Inuit and who was raised in a small village near the Arctic Circle. The scenery was breathtaking and if there are any hunters among my readers, they should appreciate the numerous hunting expeditions required of a subsistence lifestyle. While I can see that living in the arctic requires stealth, independence, creativity and nerve, after listening for the umpteenth time to the remarks about independence and how people in the lower forty-eight have lost that, I started to feel like some of the folks in the series should take to a pulpit...

Happy Weekend!