I started looking at the seed catalogs at breakfast a few minutes ago and realized that there is unfinished business for us. Here I am thinking about spring and planting corn and we have just two days left to wrap up our present 2016. I am borrowing something that Laura from Barcelona write when we got done with our time at the Camino de Santiago for our post’s title today. I am paraphrasing badly but you get my drift and thank you Laura. Miss my Angels.
“We Came”: we left the old comfort zone to start the new, we showed up and on time, we were hopeful. 2016, if I take the pulse of my FaceBook compadres, was particularly grueling in the drama of the presidential election and the deaths of so many celebrities. This is what comes to mind first to me. I am hoping that we can process these events and understand them and work and grow.
Closer to home my year was pretty exciting with being on the road with Phil’s Camino. Let’s see if I can remember places: Austin, Dubuque, San Diego, San Francisco, LA, Port Townsend (WA), Hot Springs, Tacoma, Sacramento, Monterrey and Berkeley. So many great people showed up at each of those that were real treasures. And a lot of them showed up here at the ranch to walk and tapa later.
“We Partook”: in every sense yes we did, hope. There is no real excuse not to. This is why we are here, right? It is our duty to experience. Did we get close enough to that new baby in April to get that new baby smell in our nostrils? Did we notice the beauty of that iridescent beetle that landed on our arm in July? Did we enjoy the freshness of the harvest from the still warm soil in September? Did we see the charming hummingbirds at the feeder in uncharming December?
It takes one kind of hope to show up and another kind to partake. I don’t think we are supposed to be casual observers here with our precious time. Hope turns to faith that we will be okay no matter what happens. Everything should be on our bucket list: be interested in every moment, every baby, beetle, ear of corn and hummingbird. Lets slather it with butter and sprinkle it with salt and enjoy and of course, that is after we have toasted each other.
And now “We Give Thanks”. Maybe the most important step in the process. We showed up with hope, we developed faith and now looking back we have gratitude, piles of it. This is at the same time that we remember the deaths of friends and celebrities, of elections won or lost, of our own personal failures, short comings and quandaries. In spite of that we are thankful.
Time to welcome the new year! Back to the seed catalog. Love you in big year long chunks, Felipe.
Amigo Felipe,
Before Cathy and I did our Lewis and Clark biking trek back in ’05, I read the book “Undaunted Courage”, by Steven Ambrose. It is a very apt title for the courageousness of those intrepid explorers. That title is what jumped to the front of my mind reading your blog today. All of the ingredients of your post were part of that journey. The truly undaunted courage you display so casually to all of us is one of the big things I’m thankful for in the waning hours of this “memorable” year. I”m going to be using some of your well-written verse in the end-of-the-year posting I plan to do tomorrow. I’ve found nothing more inspiring.
SF,
PFJ
PFJ ~ I’m honored by your words and the thoughts behind them. You know us Marines though, probably too dumb to be scared. Seriously, we’re all just bouncing around in God’s big playpen here and can’t really go too wrong. Happy New Year buddy, love you man, PFF.