A Time Tale
The festooning has started. The icicle lights I bought new in 2019 are hung from the gutters with care. I even trimmed back the big oak, tightened up some screws on the metal roof as I went, and took the leave blower to the gutter. I do believe this is the first time I dedicated a day to hanging those lights and actually enjoyed it. The sun was out, the air was cool, and I had a nice day.
After I finished, I made some decisions as to how I wanted to dress the front porch poles and my son offered up some suggestions as to how we might light the big oaks. His suggestion was a good one and I can see it in my minds eye, let’s hope I can execute. Afterall, I see a lot of stuff in my minds eye that fails to materialize for one reason or the other, poor execution and misreading the signs being chief among them. I think, however, I’ve got this one.
The best thing about yesterday was that I just decided to do it. Because I’ve been known to entertain that pernicious thought, I’ve got time. When I fall into that trap, it usually means I end up squeezing everything into a single day or two with no time to adjust if things go wrong and things almost always go wrong. Yesterday, for instance, I ran out of hangers. I went to the store, bought them, had lunch, came home, and finished the job. Yeah, me. As almost everyone discovers sooner or later, time is not always on our side, but it was for me, yesterday and it felt good.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale