Waxing philosophical is not the normal grist that fuels this blog, but at this moment, I am in the mood for some of it.
So … here goes.
My mind and my heart have been traveling at light speed since earlier this month. I am realizing in real time how precious our time on Earth is and I am vowing privately — I guess now I am making it public — to make the most of the time I have left.
I wanted desperately to have more time to share adventures with my bride. That won’t happen now. I am left more or less to make do on my own. I will do that. Kathy Anne would insist on it. Indeed, she did insist on it once long ago as we talked about how we would proceed without the other one by our side.
She insisted that I stay focused on things that interest me and never stop pursuing them. As I recall that conversation, she made that statement in the form of a directive.
My two years in the Army long ago taught me to obey orders. I will obey hers.
I have known all along that our time on the good Earth is short. None of us gets out of here alive, as one of my newspaper colleagues used to say.
I am going to keep writing. I will finish, hopefully soon, a memoir I’ve been writing that I plan to leave for my sons. Kathy Anne pitched the idea to me about the time my career came to an unannounced end more than a decade ago. I think it’s about two-thirds done.
We liked to travel. I will do more of it. I have a couple of bucket-list destinations in mind: Australia is No. 1, followed closely by a photo safari to Africa. Don’t hold me to visiting those places. As I learned in horrific detail not long ago, fate can deliver an immovable obstacle without warning.
Life almost always teaches hard lessons. I have tried to be a good student of the “curriculum” that comes my way. This is the sternest test yet. I intend to give it every ounce of strength I can.
There. Philosophy lecture is over.