What Got You Here

In the pre-dawn darkness of Wednesday morning we loaded up our trusty 4-wheel drive with a thermos of Sleepy Monk coffee, a package of Walkers Shortbread, folding chairs, fleece blankets, and Gracie-the chocolate labradoodle. We wanted one more trip up the logging road while the beautiful fall weather still held.

For the past four and a half years we’ve been hiking up this same road, pausing at the top for coffee and some quiet time to connect, reflect, navigate tough issues, laugh, cry, argue, and simply be together in the beauty of that space.

This time, however, we drove to the top, my only steps the slow and careful ones across the uneven road to our chairs. It will be a while before I’m able to hike that road again as I recover from my knee replacement surgery less than four weeks ago.

The recovery process has been kinda remarkable, in large part because of all of those previous trips up and down that logging road. While always grateful to have discovered what many would see simply as a dusty gravel road, there was a new understanding of all she has done for me, and for us. Hiking that same route over and over, side-by-side, regardless of the weather, has prepared me, and us for this time of recovery together. Because of all of those trips to the top and back, my body was strong at the time of surgery, paving the way for a good recovery. Because of all of those trips to the top and back, we know how to accomplish hard things together. Because of all of those trips to the top and back, the emotional weather conditions of each day don’t keep us from keeping on keeping on.

It isn’t that it’s all been easy. Nerves wear thin and blow things out of proportion. Our first fight post surgery was arguing about the best way to make oatmeal. Everything takes longer than expected, especially when one person is doing the work of two, in addition to taking on the role of in-home concierge nurse. Sleep can be illusive when you have to get up in the middle of the night to take some more pain meds, and have to choke down a few saltines and a couple of prunes so as not to take them on an empty stomach. It’s an all-consuming process in the beginning, and will continue to be a major focus if I want to get back up the logging road in the not-too-distant-as-in-several-months future.

What hit me as we sat with our coffee that morning is that it’s important to remember what got us to where we are. To acknowledge what, and who, have made today what it is, and to remember it in preparation for what life has in store for us down the road.

Like most coins, this one has two sides. The positive side of that coin is that our growth and successes are built upon the back of our efforts, and often the support and efforts of others. The flip side is that we sometimes find ourselves at a place we didn’t intend or realize isn’t in our best interest, or the best interest of those we love. This too is built upon the back of our less-than-healthy actions, and perhaps that of others as well.

Recognizing, and remembering, what got us here is the key. It is what will help us choose whether to stay the course, or shift in a new and better direction.

The logging road is part of what got me here, and she is waiting patiently for our return. I can’t wait.

Ash Wednesday and Rush Limbaugh

Today is Ash Wednesday.

It is also the day that Rush Limbaugh died.

I was not a fan. Ever.

Mr. Limbaugh, in my opinion, used his ultra-conservative pulpit to disparage and devalue people and perspectives that I deeply value. However, my 80 year old brother Peter, who passed away recently, was one of the faithful. It was hard to fathom. And yet Peter and I deeply valued many of the same things, including this country and our democracy. I don’t think my brother and I were unique in that way.

Today, it saddened me to see gleeful messages on social media at the death of this human being, who, say what you will, was a hero to many. And someday when my hero, Barack Obama, dies, there will be many who will dance on his grave.

This must stop.

Hurling insults at those who don’t agree with us only fans the flames of hatred, widens the political divide, and pushes our fragile democracy closer to the edge of a cliff of our own making. Disparaging comments and casting blame, whether circulated publicly online or contemplated privately in our own hearts, only further feeds the beast that threatens to devour us and our democracy. Every time we indulge in the habit of fueling that fire, we are brought closer to collective ruin in our polarized country. Like a drug, it is a political habit that gets harder to break the more we engage in it.

Today is Ash Wednesday.

It is also the day which marks the beginning of the Lenten Season and continues until the night before Easter Sunday. Lent is a period of repentance and reflection, during which people often commit to a time of fasting and the denial of certain luxuries. It is a time of preparation for the ultimate transformation, when out of the ashes of death 2000 years ago, Love was reborn.

It could also be the day which marks the beginning of a new season in this country. A period of repentance and reflection, during which we commit to a time of fasting from the political junk food that is poisoning our souls, and a refusal to indulge in cheap and hateful shots across the aisle. A time of preparation for the hard work of raising up a country of Love out of the ashes of death.

May it be so.

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