Blue-Footed Musings

Before 2017, I never could have imagined reprimanding the POTUS daily on social media. I also never could have imagined having a president that needed daily reprimanding. What a strange place we’re in.

I know that as a New Englander I’m supposed to be stoic about wintry weather. But it is 12° right now, and that’s warm compared to the temperatures we’ve been having. Tomorrow’s predicted high is 29° (heavenly!), but we’re supposed to get a blizzard the next day, followed by several more days in the deep freeze. My stoicism is wearing thin!

My memory is poor. I can hardly remember things from day to day, let alone from year to year. This has caused me a sort of “separation anxiety.” I feel a separation from everything that has happened to me in the past, and the distance is always widening, with only the sketchiest memories to connect then to now. And it causes me anxiety, more so with every passing year. Sometimes I read things that I’ve written, and I know that I wrote them because the words sound like mine, and the events they describe involve people that I know, but I don’t remember writing them. That scares me.

Another side effect of this poor memory is that, though I learn things as I go along, I don’t always remember what I’ve learned. There are probably some epiphanies that I’ve had dozens of times. I suppose, in a way, it’s cool to keep rediscovering things. On the other hand, lessons that could be helpful with everyday life ought to reside at the top of one’s memory, where they’re easily accessible.

My memory issues remind me of the movie “50 First Dates,” in which the main female character has brain damage that prevents her from forming lasting memories. She forgets while she sleeps, so every day she wakes up in her past, not remembering all the things that have happened to her since the accident that damaged her brain. Her solution to this terrible problem is to keep a journal (later, a video diary) of what has changed in her life. She leaves it out where she will see it first thing in the morning. Every day she reads/watches it and catches up with her own life.

Though the movie was presented as a comedy, it’s not really funny. I get sad just thinking about it. But I think sometimes I am a little like that character, and maybe her solution could be helpful to me. So I am visualizing a new project, something to remind me every day of the lessons I have learned, and why they are important.

Not that I keep track of bad years and label them as such in my memory, but had I done so, I suspect that 2017 would sit at the very top of the list. Every year will have its share of personal, national, and international tragedies. This year not only brought a boatload of terrible happenings, but it lacked what was necessary to manage them. We had a president and a Republican-dominated Congress seemingly determined to destroy all that is good about this country. We needed sanity, wisdom, and unity, but what we got was a government actively working against the best interests of its citizens, the people of the world, and the environment. And we, the People, took sides. We were divided and angry, and we punished each other for it.

In other words, 2017 was a shitty year. Please forgive my French. I rarely swear here on the blog, but this year was so bad that nothing but a vulgar term could describe it adequately.

Enough said. We don’t need to dwell. Instead of thinking about how bad 2017 was, let’s all wish for a better 2018. If we wish hard enough, maybe our wishes will come true. And let’s work for it, too. If we all work hard enough, surely we can make it a better year.

Good-bye, 2017!

Hello, 2018!

Happy New Year to all!

We had Chinese food for dinner tonight. My fortune:

Our purpose in life is not to get ahead of other people—but to get ahead of ourselves.

This is good advice to carry into the new year, don’t you think?