Holidays

Some thoughts from nowhere… so settle in for a long textual read. When you mentioned previously that you would be staying at the cottage for quite a few days at a stretch, it occurred as an afterthought that I might have asked you, “Why now?” Then, a few days later, I ran across a reference to an upcoming holiday, of which I had, until then, been blissfully ignorant. That holiday, of course, turned out to be Labor Day, about which my reading of news this morning hastened to remind me.

And then I thought to myself, “What about a holiday is quantifiably any different than any other day on a retired person’s calendar?” The workaday world is punctuated periodically with these welcome periods of lassitude and breaks in our business routines. But every holiday weekend now, for me at least, feels precisely the same as every non-holiday weekend. And then I remembered. It hit me like a ton of bricks! People have families! They have friends. They socialize.

This underscores the nature of my personal journey and societal retreat, and brings into sharp relief the changing rhythms of a longer life. (I have been composing this little exposition to you prior to 6 a.m., and despite my sometimes anxious and pressing need to communicate immediately, I will refrain from sending this on to you until sometime past mid-morning, as I would hate to disturb your long and restorative cabin-centered sleep rhythms.) So enjoy your family and friends, ignoring the petty personal annoyances that invariably accompany such gatherings, and set your heart at ease when you realize that people like me supply the necessary quiescent balance to the otherwise raucous holidays.