That's Life

Life's Good

“...I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,

A poet, a pawn and a king.

I've been up and down and over and out,

And I know one thing.

Each time I find myself flat on my face,

I pick myself up and get back in the race...”

“That's Life” (Vernon Duke & E.Y. Harburg)

This song, made famous by Ol' Blue Eyes himself, is truer than true for most of us. Especially in today's world, just when you think you've got things sorted, and all the pens in place, life happens, and you have to begin again. The days of being hired for a job straight out of high school or college, and retiring with a pension from that same job forty-five years later, are a pipe-dream for most people today. And, let's face it, not all of us are cut from that cloth even if it was still possible. Some of us just have to blaze our own trail even though we know that about half the time, it will end in high weeds.

My mother had a neighbor, back in the day, who taught sixth grade in the same school system for forty-six years. Estelle, was her name, and by the end of it, she looked like one of those dried-apple-head dolls, but she still had a sense of humor, and an inquisitive mind. My mother would say, “a nosy mind,” but that's another story. I appreciate people like Estelle, who begin something and stick with it their whole lives. I don't have that gene.

I have a cousin who is an inventor. He has made, and lost, and made again several fortunes over his lifetime—and he's still going, still coming up with new ideas, still compelled to create. In his spare time, he builds things from wood; beautiful and useful furniture and bowls and such, conjured straight out of his own mind. Some of us would rather be dead than do the same thing everyday for our entire lives. I appreciate that person, too. Where would we be without creative entrepreneurs—probably still pushing a metal plow behind a mule's rear-end. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I kind of like turning dirt and smelling its earthy fragrance. It's the mule that can be a little bit of a problem.

All this rambling is to say that the world is full of all the right kinds of people—a diverse river of tastes and abilities, interests and capacities. I wouldn't care to be a brain surgeon, or an astronaut, or a deep sea diver, but I'm glad others are motivated and capable of that. I wouldn't want to herd sheep and camp in a cold pasture, or jump into a forest fire from an airplane, but I'm mighty glad others do. This is a big world. There are many ways to succeed and fail, and all of us will have ample opportunity to do both if we live long enough. That's life! And life is good.

                                                        In the Spirit,

                                                             Jane