HAVE COURAGE

February, a short month, a busy month.

I think that one does not really get busier when he or she retires, but one shifts attention to tasks that can go on and on and even blend together – and they often originate not in office or shop, but rather in one’s home base.

It can be difficult to escape, easier to simply change activity.

At The Study, we can prep breakfast; scan world happenings; grocery shop; move furniture; wash and paint a wall; hang pictures; organize books on shelves; replace damaged wall mirrors; chop wood; clean floors, etc., light fire in fireplace; read and send emails and snail mail; write complaints and praises to selected authors of books which have pleased, bored, or infuriated; bathe former show dog; vacuum rugs; shop for winter boots to replace those too old to remember when purchased; do laundry; take a nap; print photos; attend any of several church meetings; prepare lunch and help with dinner; mix drinks and dine out, hopefully with friends and/or family; and so on – you get the idea.

And if one does not write every day, it gets harder to write at all.

One must do it regularly: writing, rewriting, tossing perhaps, saving hopefully, sending it out to be read and even very rarely, to be bought and paid for.

As the teacher-turned-lady-of-the-night once said, “We are going to do it over and over again until we get it right.”

Anyway, life goes on and the bells toll and folks win and lose.
And we often do not get it right.

But Kipling reassures us – happily, it is less important sometimes whether we win or lose – it is frequently more important how we play the game.

That is a helpful perspective.

That is the point of view that gives the faint of heart courage to give it a try.