Zermat is a magical place. There wasn’t a lot of new snow so we had to stay on piste. Off piste would have required a guide anyway. We skied both the Swiss and the Italian side of the Matterhorn. It takes an entire day to circumnavigate the mountain.
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I remember two, maybe three winters ago, I was driving from Salt Lake City to Phoenix, I had my traveling companion Mr. Tux the cat with me. We were somewhere south of Page Arizona. I decided to spend the night in a teepee on the Navajo Reservation. All was well until about 2 A.M. I woke up and realized that my furry companion was no longer by my side. I crawled out of my sleeping bag and put on my down coat. Did I forget to mention it was December in the high desert and the temperature outside was in the mid-teens? I found my flashlight and went hunting for my cat. I was distraught. My mind was filled with any number of bad outcomes that might have befallen my buddy. What in the world would make him want to leave a warm teepee in the middle of nowhere and wander about in an unknown wilderness? I kept asking myself that, as I navigated larger and larger circles around the teepee, shining my flashlight and calling his name.
I walked around the teepee in ever larger circles for about twenty minutes before I stumbled upon my boy. Of course there is no way of knowing… but I think he was glad I found him. I picked him up and carried him back to the teepee with me. I’m going to assume he was happy I found him because he made no more attempts that night to exit the confines of our (somewhat) comfortable encampment.
That is the night I realized that I loved my cat more than I had imagined. I still do. I have no plan to spend the night in a teepee any time soon, but if I do, and if Mr. Tux is with me, I will be keeping a very close eye on him.
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Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a ride!”
I’ve crossed the country twice on a bicycle and I plan to do it again. I’m skiing better now at age 71 than I have ever skied in my life. That’s living. Of course I won’t be able to ride 3,000 miles on a bike or rip a black diamond forever. But I will continue doing both to the best of my ability until I fall down and can’t get up.
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It’s the start of a new year. I can’t recall feeling more excited about the year ahead than I do now. Invigorated is a good description. Who would have thought that at age 71, one could look back on their life with some pride and also look forward with an expectation that even greater things are in store, but that is how I feel. Another wonderful thing about this year is I feel I have some powerful intentions that are not only worthwhile but are attainable. I’m excited about putting in the work to get there. All of this while we are facing a trying time as a nation.
America is changing before our eyes. Sometimes it feels like no one is aware of what is going on. Democracy is dying and is being replace with rule by the rich. Whatever benefits the wealthy is the new political policy. The irony is that this change was made possible by the people that will benefit the least from this transformation. I’m not going to dwell too much on this reality going forward for two reasons. The first is there is nothing I can do about it in the short term. The second is because we will come out of this, it will take time, maybe even more time than I have left, but we will come out of this.
Perhaps that is the reason I feel optimistic about my own future. This national crisis has given me the freedom to focus on myself. My future is up to me and no one else.
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