Sometimes, things just click and go your way. The other day I thought my money clip lost. I checked pockets. I checked dressers. I checked tables. Time passed. Then it came to me. A thought. I went to the car. Opened the center console. There it was. Placed there while traveling. Several weeks earlier than that, months in fact, one of my thermostats lost contact with the app that controls it. I fiddled. I diddled. I played with it. I replaced it. I moved it. Nothing. I thought perhaps the router needed replacing. I took steps in that direction. But a friend suggested checking the firmware. I did. It needed updating. I updated. The thermostat rejoined the family. All is well.

It's funny how life goes like that. One day nothing seems to work. Then, poof, you discover an answer, push a button, and everything is shipshape. I wish I understood that mystery of the universe. But I guess that’s why it’s a mystery, to keep us guessing. As a young man, however, I used to rant and rail at the injustice of it all. Make my life miserable. Then it occurred to me it was mostly my doing. It was me forgetting where I put things. It was me failing to do something. It was me. And mostly what I needed to do was relax and have a talk with myself and learn the art of calm acceptance.

I think I’ve done really well with that, learning to accept things, especially as they relate to people. Because, if there’s one thing over which you have no control, it’s people. I’ve learned to do my best and then accept what comes my way. Sometimes they walk off and I never see them again. Sometimes we become best friends. All of this started coming to me the day I learned, years ago, I was responsible for my own happiness, and no one could make me happy. And vice versa. And now days, I’m mostly happy, and accepting of the universe in which I find myself and that seems a fine way to finish out my days.