Whew! Two weeks without writing and hanging out in the garage getting ready for the upcoming trips has left me refreshed and retooled – maybe. I’ve become reflective, more than ever, after the golf/fishing trip to Hilton Head. Probably for several reasons. First, my brother is having some heart surgery tomorrow, so my thoughts are with him, but also my own immortality. Second, as the Superior trip looms over the horizon, I find myself wondering further and further from social interactions, and my Will and Power’s of Attorney are being retooled to make sure all is in order before I hit the water. It’s not that death scares me, in fact I believe if it would happen tomorrow, it would be okay, but it doesn’t mean that I should be preoccupied with it on two fronts at the same time. I should say, it’s not the grandest of thoughts. That being said, it’s necessary. Third, as I’ve written before, routine has become part of my life, and that will simply go poof! this summer. The house being left to people who don’t live here having to take care of it, so that Christine can concentrate on her work, makes me shutter. And finally, another decade has come and gone. Turning 60 is far less stressful for me, but creating much more wonderment of what life will be like on the downward slope. I find my body in good shape, as well as the mind, but I’d be a fool not to realize a slower pace, a slower grasp, and even the fact that I need cheater’s once in a while to see the crossword puzzle. What’s confirming is everyone else my age commiserate with me complaining of the same changes. I do understand life is embolden upon my positive outlook, so I shall not deviate from that, but cells are cells, and they can only live so long – or breathe for so long. The body does age. There is something else teetering on the brink of stupidity that has me off-balance and that is the state of our country’s president. I never thought in my lifetime we’d elect a sociopath. Arguments aside on both sides of the aisle, he’s a diagnosable personality disorder of the nth degree. Flat out. And his behaviors and sentiments to human beings is so horrid it creates a dark shadow on my soul. For those of you who disagree, I’m sorry. Humanity deserves a different person in this office who has compassion for all instead of an agenda for the few. And I guess that pretty much clears the mind of everything at this moment. It’s a quiet, peaceful rain outside reminding me of Nature’s own way of cleansing the soul of this earth. The kayak trip will obviously put me in a mindful position so I may render my thoughts and sentiments toward the reality of this world: We are a spinning rock in space, within a moving and pulsating universe that most people cannot wrap their heads around, so they create a messy reality of religion, politics and personal aggrandizement to satisfy their minuscule time on this planet, forgetting we are all connected to the universal energy for survival and when groups are torn from the connection, our lives become less than alive.