On Purpose
In an effort to be fill in gaps between my “hybrid” posts; stories that don’t meet the definition of blog posts, but don’t meet the definition of short stories either, I think I will begin to try to do some true blog posts for the next little while. Just as an experiment.
I had some plans today, but as it often does, circumstances changed my mind. I awoke to a cool morning, as expected, but I checked the forecast which was favorable, and other variables seemed to be working against my plans. I thought about it and immediately made new plans.
Today was a day made for riding a motorcycle. PERIOD. No discussion.
Whatever plans were made, toss them, crank it up, press down once with the left foot, relax the left hand while rotating the right hand downward. It is that simple. To quote Ferris Bueller: “if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.” I’ve owned a few, and I don’t care about the brand, the culture, whatever, buy yourself one, nothing compares.
I’m biased to the two-wheel experience though, but you are free to choose whatever blows your skirt up. My point is to get up and do something, anything. Hiking, horseback riding, chess, horseshoes, golf, whatever, just do something. I have a friend, for example, who is going to run 100 miles in the month of December. I’ve not done the math, but that is a lot of running. Something would have to be chasing me to run that much, but this is her thing. While running, she feels the way I did earlier when I leaned into a curve to the point that my boot heel drug the pavement. Man, what a charge!
I remember as a teenager growing up on our South Mississippi, farm. On rainy days or days when something prevented us from working directly on the farm, my dad would wake my twin brother and me up. He’d say, “Get up boys, we gotta do something if it’s wrong.” He did this because, on a farm, there is always something to be done. Usually, we were making repairs to equipment so that when the rains subsided, we would be ready to get back to the task.
To this end, I think about how much of my own life I’ve spent working for the future, gambling even, on the future. With my biggest successes in life, my daughters, biological and some non-biological, I preached and worked and sacrificed to better prepare them for the future. Now that they are settling into careers of their own, I’m constantly advising them to plan for the future, and considering my own words, I think, “I must sound like a broken record.”
Now that there is much less future than past, I’m realizing the fallacy of my thinking. I’m not looking back and saying that I did a lot wrong, because my girls’ success is my success, and I had a ton of DBeazy experiences along the way. I’m only saying that for me, it’s time to get busy on the here and the now. A bet on the future is a loser’s wager. The future is a “what if?” The present, well, that is where it’s at. “Now” prevails over “later” every time.
So this is where my bike fits in. Man, ya gotta have an outlet. Of this I’m POSITIVE. Get up and do what you have to for the future, but folks, don’t let it eclipse the present. Life is too short. Life is too short. (Twice for effect)