Aging Capriciously

Happy Holidays to All our Friends, Relatives and Everyone Else as Well. 

John: I bring you a gift this year.  Whether you are celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Christmas, it is the season of giving.  It is the season of happiness, joy, hope, peace, and love.  I wish these were my gifts to you, but that would be impossible.  I don’t have the ability to do that.  However, if I am not being too presumptuous, there is a secret I can share with you.  It is not a really a secret but a path to everything that you could wish for.  There are many paths in this world that will bring you to what you want but they are not always easy to follow.  Some will tell you that “loving everyone” is the path to happiness and peace.  A great idea, but in truth one that I have found nearly impossible to follow.

Some will tell you that gratitude is the path to contentment and happiness.  I have found this path easier to follow but not always appropriate.  Some things I am never going to be grateful for.  Then I realized that much of my unhappiness comes from “disliking.”  I may dislike some people, some places, or some things.  For example, I dislike ham and freeways.  I don’t think that I will ever love either one, but I don’t have to dislike them.  I can choose to simply accept a certain neutrality towards them.  I will call this the path of neutrality.  A path characterized by neither liking nor disliking something or someone.  When I stop disliking something, I have given myself power over my own life by taking control of the choices I make.  When I dislike something, I am controlled by what or whom I dislike.  Instead, we can choose a path of neutrality.  In 2024, try taking a trip down the path of neutrality.  If I make any progress, we may meet each other on the path.  As Porky Pig said, “That’s all for now folks.” Time to hear from Karen.

Karen: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to all!

2023 has been an interesting year for us.  In February, I made a trip to Minnesota to visit my daughters Juli, Susan, and Megan with a side trip to Cornucopia, WI to stay a few days with Kevin.  We had fun together with many late-night talks and watching the deer on Kevin’s property.  However, I had asked for one blizzard while I was there, and no one provided that for me, In fact, it was warm with melting snow much of the time.  The rest of the winter was the snowiest on record.  Hopefully my upcoming trip in January this year will provide at least one good snowstorm.  On my return from Wisconsin, John and I finally caught Covid for the first time.  Not pleasant, but no lingering effects,

In June, we started off for Wisconsin in the RV and had a nice visit in Albert Lea with my cousin Jane and husband Bill.  We had made reservations for the summer in an RV park not too far from Frederic for three months—I called it the Great Experiment.  Could we really live together in a 26-foot RV with all our stuff?  The answer was “not too well”.  Mosquitos and wood ticks attacked us whenever we were outside.  John had too little space to do his exercises, and the kitchen table was the only place for the laptop.  My solution was to practice my instruments and work on my quilting in the screen house with a nice fan while John stayed inside with the air conditioning on frigid.  We took one trip in August to visit my cousin Gretchen and husband Robert in Door County on Washington island.  We had a good three days together, reminiscing and listening to Robert’s stories about his life in South Africa.  We left for our AZ home at the beginning of September.

We came back home to AZ for a few weeks, then left for a trip to South Africa.  It was a wonderful trip, and it was made more meaningful after Robert’s story sharing.  As a person who lived through the apartheid era, he has written several books about his experiences growing up in South Africa.  We stayed in Cape Town for a week.  In and around Cape town we visited some historic towns, wineries, museums, flower gardens, churches, and the famous Table Mountain.  One day we took a boat trip out to see some penguins and other sea birds.  We then flew to Johannesburg where we toured Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, Nelson Mandela’s home and several other historic areas.  Next by car we went to a Scottish resort.  We spent a day or so just relaxing.  It was then on to Kampala Game Reserve to spend three days on morning and evening “game drives” to find various African wildlife.  We have seen most of the same species in zoos, but it is nothing like seeing them up close in the wild.

Friends have asked us what we liked most about South Africa.  The scenery was wonderful.  The food was fantastic.  The history was fascinating albeit very sad.  But the best part of the trip was the South African people.  They were warm, friendly, and hospitable.  They were the icing on the trip.  No where did we find anybody who was not helpful and willing to go out of their way to make us feel at home.

That is the END.  At least for this year.     Attached are some pictures from our South Africa Trip.  

Wishing you good health, peace, love, and joy for 2024.

Karen and John