It’s a perfect fall day in South Hadley today. It’s warm, blue skies, and the leaves are beginning to change colors. Day and I have a great piece of property, we can’t see any neighbors, but I can hear children playing, a lawnmower in the distance, along with the birds and chipmunks. Days like this remind me of when I was a child. I’d lay in the grass, my eyes closed, the warm sun on my face, and the few small clouds in the sky would take turns blocking out the sun. Neighbors were too far away to hear lawnmowers, but I remember the sound of the occasional small airplane flying by as if it was yesterday. It seems like an odd thing to remember, but I remember it, like it was yesterday.
Day and I have a wonderful life, and I am incredibly grateful for all we have, but I must admit, I am feeling very melancholy today. Work has been very busy this year, and in a blink of an eye, the summer is gone. Now, I am working out of town, and soon, the year will be over. It’s all going by too fast, and I want it to slow down. Actually, if I could hit the “reset” button, that would be great. I understand two things: that neither of these are an option, and, I am not alone in feeling like this.
Day and I talk about change: changing jobs, downsizing, an early retirement, and so on, but I “feel” stuck, paralyzed by indecision. We’re comfortable, and change, is uncomfortable, so we do the “same old same old.” Weeks of the “same old same old” turn into months, months into years, and here I am, almost 53 (I know that’s not terribly old). Day and I met at UMass Amherst more than twenty years ago. We would sit outside the Blue Wall Cafe, on the lawn, talking for hours, under the blue skies, and the occasional cloud would momentarily block out the sun, I remember it, like it was yesterday.
My intent is not to sound like a “Mr. Sad Sacks,” Day and I have a wonderful life. I have made a lifetime of bad decisions, but we have a wonderful life because we’ve made enough of the right decisions. We work hard, we bought a house as soon as possible, stopped paying rent, and we save like crazy! Well there you go, I am living proof; you can be a loser most of the time, you just need to be a winner once and awhile, and you’ll be ok.
We work hard, and save like crazy (read the Automatic Millionaire by David Bach), but we try to enjoy as much as we can now. So, once again, Day and I are taking some time for us, a long weekend to London.
We found cheap flights and decided to go it alone, just me and Day, which doesn’t happen very often. We fly out tonight, Thursday night, and get there Friday morning. We have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and fly back Monday afternoon.
I have been working in or near Boston since April, up at 4 am, home between 7 and 8 pm. I am excited to spend some downtime with my wife, and maybe a chance to write a blog post.
Luv ya,
Curly
