Happy Valentine’s Day

I imagine the day will be less festive than many wish, as has been the case with holidays, birthdays and anniversaries for a year now, but perhaps it’s a good day to remember those who have been lost and be thankful for those who, so far, have escaped – and to help all of us to continue to stay healthy.
Instead of Halloween – wear a mask for Valentine’s Day, please.

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With the Super Bowl over, and the holiday season that began in October concluded, with vaccines slowly making their way through the population, it does seem like the right time to ask, “Now what?”

John Dunne noted, “It concentrateth a man’s mind wonderfully to know he is to be hanged in a fortnight,” and, when asked what he would do if he knew he was about to die, prolific writer Isaac Asimov said, “Type faster.”

Of course, for many of us age alone is asking those questions. Some, perhaps most, will simply ignore the approach of our personal winter, others will drink their way right up to the last bottle, others will say, “Oh well. It’s too late to start anything now.”

Some, however, will respond more in the vein of Dunne and Asimov and decide it’s time to do stuff.

I will confess that I, and perhaps you, usually find myself in the middle.

I have manuscripts to finish writing and books to update for second editions, and other writing to be started. I have places to visit and/or revisit. I have nagging mobility problems that better adherence to my Physical Therapy regimen could greatly improve. I have old friends I haven’t seen in over half a century who I could visit before they, or I, are gone.

Or I could just crack open another bottle and let it all go until tomorrow until there are no more tomorrows and the problem of choosing is solved for me.

The pandemic has “concentrateth the minds” of some of us as our ongoing clients indicate. Many have been reminded that our time is finite. Some of you come to see us because you don’t want to “go quietly,” as Dylan Thomas advised against, but aren’t exactly sure how to alter the course we have been charting.

In this quotation rich edition I will conclude with one from Katherine Hepburn which pretty well sums things up, like it or not:

“…we are taught that you must blame your father, your mother, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers, you can blame anyone, but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s ALWAYS your fault because if you wanted to change, you’re the one who’s got to change. It’s as simple as that, isn’t it?”