February 14, 2024
The last time that Valentine’s
Day fell on Ash Wednesday was in 2018. It will happen next in 2029. This tells
me, therefore, that this is something that has, indeed occurred intermittently
throughout my lifetime. And yet this is the first time I’ve actually been aware
of it. That I recall.
So much for my always being in
full possession of all the facts. But then, I am getting older, and I know it.
A word of advice, then, for
those of you yet to purchase something special for a loved one to acknowledge
this day, a loved one who is also a devout person. Flowers and not chocolates
would be the way to go, in my opinion.
In three out of four years,
this day would be the exact middle point in February. But this is a leap year
and so it is not. But it’s close enough for us to celebrate that we are indeed
halfway through what had always been, in my memory at least, the worst month of
winter. By the six-month phiilosophy of winter outlook of the Ashbury
household, once February is in the can, there will be only one more month of
this awful season to go.
I am here to confess that
while we always bemoan how terrible and long the winter has been, we’ve
actually been fairly lucky this year. At least we have in this area of the
world. We still have had no snow on the ground since we had that rain and
melting in the last week of January. However, we are expecting to get several
inches of the snow tomorrow. When that last batch of the white frozen stuff
disappeared, I never thought for even a moment that meant the end of
accumulation for the season. Mother Nature is a contrary woman, so I figured we
were sure to get more.
In fact, it would be just like
her to ensure we get some in April or even May. So I never breathe that
particular sigh of relief until the May 24th long weekend.
Here in my neck of the woods
on this Valentine’s Day, the sun is shining, and the air is below freezing
cold. The dogs are noisy, because I think they think that spring is coming and
they, being critters of nature, are responding with barely leashed exuberance.
A couple of them are lovers of sunlight, and beginning in spring, will take as
much time as they can in the yard to lay down and bask in the sun.
One of them, my daughter’s
nearly thirteen-year-old Chihuahua Bella, like me has some issues with
arthritis. She particularly loves the heat. She knows when I have my heating
pad on my knees under my blanket and will ask to come up on my lap. She also
immediately gets herself onto our reclining sofa in what is David’s spot, the
moment he vacates it. David doesn’t always remember to turn off his heating pad
when he gets up; Fortunately, she won’t have long on that heat, because we have
the kind of heating pads that shut off intermittently. Yes, they recommend that
dogs not experience the joy of a warm heating pad. You can rest assured that
she doesn’t get much of that luxury.
Life is really what we make it
out to be. I try to balance doing chores around the house with simply enjoying
the day. That’s not a hard thing to do these days as my spurts of busyness and
energy are not long in duration and require recovery time. Mostly, I have a
good attitude about the limitations I have as I approach my 70th
birthday. Not based on the number of birthdays I’ve celebrated—because everyone
ages differently. But based on my abilities, and my stamina.
I’ve witnessed with my own
eyes the vitality of folks several years older than I, who’ve been blessed with
better genetics—or perhaps, more to the point, from better habits formed in
their youth.
No two people are exactly
alike in any regard. This is something that we all know, and we have all
acknowledged at various points throughout the years as being true.
Sometimes I marvel at the
strides we humans have made in our quest to be more open minded and more just
in our treatment of others. And sometimes I want to cry upon the realization
that we are still a people riddled with prejudice when it comes to our fellow human
beings—and not only when it comes to their skin color or their sex or their
sexual preferences.
God knows that we are useful
for as long as He deems us to be so. If that weren’t true, He wouldn’t have
asked Noah—well meaning elderly man that he was—to build an Ark to save
humanity.
Love,
Morgan
https://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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