Facebook keeps telling me that it has been a long time since I have written. That I have XX new notifications and XX group updates and XX pokes and XX friend suggestions and XX people inviting me to spend all my time playing games.
I guess that is true. But if you know me, you know that Facebook and I don't get along. Without a nom de plume, I simply am not going to be anything but vague and ambiguous and mysterious. Understand, I don't mind telling the world what I do, what I think, the things I get into and who I get into it with. I wrote a blog for many years, way back to the Modblog days. But I always protected myself and my friends and was none too specific over where I live and where I shop and who I spend time with. Few proper nouns. That's not Facebook's style.
I suppose, though, it is time for an update.
If you remember me from the Modblog days, you know that wrote about a certain number. It was counting down to a certain date: I would write about "1300 and counting." I kept track of the number on a countdown app on my phone. When the number hits zero, I turn 66, defined by Social Security qs the "full retirement age" in the States.
The countdown hasn't hit zero yet, but it will before another day is over. In fact, I "retired" a year ago, in the sense that I started collecting Social Security and went on Medicare (when I turned 65). But I kept on working part-time. At times, I wrote that I was working "part-time" (with the quotation marks, to indicate its ironic use) because it could really be a lot of hours and took a toll on me. Mind you, I like the extra money, and I didn't lose any Social Security benefits (I didn't make THAT much) because of my earnings. But it simply took too much time that I wanted to spend with my wife or my friend or ... just by myself, doing things I enjoy most. Especially in summer.
I will probably be working a lot this winter, helping with the basketball coverage. After that, I think it's time to dial it down a ways.
One personal crisis in 2015. I started taking a new medication, and I started feeling less energetic. I worry about my legs and the strength of my legs (and hips, knees, ankles). You see, I walk a lot, and when I'm with my friend we go hiking or occasionally camping. In fall, when I'm covering high school football, I'm never in the press box. You don't get good action photos from the press box. So, day or night, nice weather or cold or rainy or snowy, I'm treading the sidelines all game for 2 1/2 or 3 hours. Could I still do that?
Turns out that I could. My friend and I did some hiking, went camping several times, and I survived all 12 weeks of the high school football season (12 weeks for the team I cover, including three weeks of playoffs). I tromp, tromp, tromped along the sidelines all season.
My wife had had a crisis, too. Nope, no details on Facebook. A health issue. Bottom line, though, is that we faced it together, she got through it in wonderful shape, our life is back to normal, all is well, and the future is bright. That's good. She's my best friend, after all, and has been since we first met. That was a month or so after Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
My older son's family (500+ miles away) visited us over the summer, and we visited them in November for the grandson's first birthday. In late June, I went on my first bus tour--several days in Chicago--with my wife. Pluses and minuses, but I didn't have to drive. A few weeks earlier, my friend and I spent a couple days in the Twin Cities. In mid January, we're going to see a hockey game at Michigan Tech. More adventures to come, I'm sure.
I recently bought a new camera and lens (not a cheapie, either), and I want to spend time really learning about it. I also want to learn the software I use with it. I still like learning new things. More interesting (to me) than Facebook.
Who knows what's going to happen next year? Who ever knows what Fate has up its sleeve? We don't get a sneak preview. So all I can do--and all any of us can do--is play it by ear and enjoy each day you have. Not to impress people on Facebook. Just to make the most out of this life. Enjoy new adventures and have fun. That's my plan.
