At the moment I am experiencing a major uptick in lower back pain. It’s a chronic S.I. Joint issue that has its ups and downs. When my pain levels spike and I need to take more medication and do far less physical activities, I struggle with how to remain creative and most especially positive emotionally. Fortunately, I will go in for another series of nerve blocks within two days which will greatly reduce the pain for another few months. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have the best medical care available to me. So many other people who suffer greatly do not have the access to healthcare that I am privileged to enjoy.

When my pain levels are elevated I try, and sometimes fail, to listen for what the pain might be teaching me. Sometimes it just hurts like hell, and other times little nuggets of joy come my way precisely because I am forced to sideline doing other things I would rather be doing.

To folks observing Passover this week and Easter today, blessings of spiritual peace to all. And to everyone else, happy blessed new day that we all share together.
– Kevin

I am fortunate enough to have one room in our home that serves as my office. Some might call it my study, but that sounds too highfalutin for my way of life. Since retirement I have been slowly repurposing how I use this space. Today, the walls of this room serve as a home photo gallery for many of my favorite images, from stills of old meetinghouse benches to images of children both passive and active, and seaside shots of waves, lighthouses and periwinkles inching their way through the sand.
Everything I’ve done, what I stand for and what I believe is present in this space. An old walking stick juts out high on one wall holding a gong, that when struck, gives off a long, soft-sounding hum. Since she was five one of our granddaughters makes it her mission to run in, and using a stick with soft foam on one end that I keep just for her, strikes the gong’s clapper three times before dashing outside to play.

Like many folks, I have my little pile of “to-do’s” beside my computer. There is beauty too, I suppose, in something that’s waiting, that others are waiting for me accomplish and send them which I suppose I could be doing right now.
– Kevin

Lately I have been making a deliberate effort to slow down and observe things more closely. For example, while doing springtime chores around the outside of our home, I have hearing and enjoying the symphony of bird calls that come with spring. Day by day the bulbs in our gardens are inching upward. While at the hardware store getting supplies, I am making an effort to focus and take in the feel of the place. And while interacting with employees, I’m enjoying more of their presence as persons and not just as information funnels who will lead me to a product.

Some of these things I have had to jam in between doing other duties when I was working full-time and then some. Now that I am retired, I am discovering that these “old tapes” on how to get stuff done no longer need to be heeded in the same way. It surprises me too, aware that I’ve been retired now for eighteen months, that it’s taken me this long to realize this! Call it my “light dawns over Marblehead moment!”
– Kevin

Hello Antoinette, you mentioned taking out your dog….our dog, Gracie, is blind and I oftentimes watch her take everything in with her remaining keen senses of smell, touch and hearing. She’s been blind now almost a year and maneuvers her way all around the house inside and out with ease. We’ve noticed how her remaining senses have ramped up since losing her sight and how happy she seems overall. Sometimes I look at her and think, I should be more like her day in and day out.