A Trailside Moment

[sasha]

somewhere to the west
a distant jay...
from overhead
a single-engine plane...
from the scrub around me
crickets...
from within
thoughts of Her who no longer is
and the love we so briefly shared...
from without
peaceful solitude
welcomes me with an embrace...

and in this place
at this time
melancholy and gratitude
reach an accord
and raise a glass
to What Was
and to What Is

[saw]

probably the best paart of retiring is all the time you have to reflect on your life...and life in general....work takes away those moments to reflect as we are always wrapped up in this project or the next one....too much thought goes into what other people expect of you, and as as a professional you don't want to disappoint them

you speak of peace and solitude....very little of that in the working world

you speak of old love and what it meant...once again hard to evaluate nor appreciate back within the time we spent thinking about work.....when i had a carpentry project, that's all I could think about...i wake up at 2 am thinking about a particualr detail, and how i would accomplish this or that or the other

but now, the woods, is the ultimate reward....to wander and wonder

good capture roy

[sasha]

Thanks, Steve. Yeah, my dad was dreading retirement because he felt he was totally defined by his work. I was fortunate enough to have had a few jobs where I mattered, but the one I retired from wasn't one of them. Retirement was an escape back to Real Life.

Yesterday I was out walking in my favorite WMA - mostly gray & cloudy with weak, intermittent sun, the kind of day justifying cargo shorts and an overshirt. A contemplative kind of day, and She crossed my mind. The only memento of her I've got is an obit from 10 yrs ago - but she's part of my fabric - another weaving in the tapestry. Still - so many unanswered questions...