Today’s post was inspired partly by the folks at the daily prompt, asking if my glass is half empty or half full. It was mostly inspired by my husband though, who is celebrating his 50th birthday tomorrow. (“Celebrating” is not really the right word, since he would like it to just be another day.)
But it’s not just another day, and he realizes this. The last few weeks he’s found himself doing even more self-evaluation than usual: looking at what he’s done with his life and wondering if there’s still time to do something worthwhile. Is the glass half empty or is it half full?
These days our to-do lists seem to get longer and longer and even though we keep checking things off, the list never seems to be finished. Most of these things are the trivial little things that everybody has to do: laundry, mow the lawn, get the car serviced, pick up dry-cleaning. But these things tend to get in the way of what should be playing a bigger role in both our lives: finish writing a song, play the guitar, get up early to go out and take pictures, write more letters. We worry that we spend so much time taking care of all those little things that by the time we get them all crossed off the list we won’t have the time or the energy to work on the important stuff.
We’ve been telling ourselves that there is still time, that the glass is still half full. If we can hang in there four more years (while Jeremy goes through high school) we can then make a move in a direction that will lead to the goals we’ve set for ourselves: to live away from this I95 rat race in a creative community where we can each pursue our passions.
So what happens in the meantime? I guess the first step might be figuring out exactly where that community is and how we will pay the bills. We’re not going to be ready to retire any time soon so we will need jobs. And then we need start planning and saving so we can actually make it happen.
I know that the glass is half full. I think I’m still just taking my first sips. Hang in there with me, Douglas — there’s a lot more to come and you haven’t even seen the bottom of the glass yet. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I look forward to sharing many more birthdays, years, and happy times with you. And with that, I raise my glass to you. I love you. Cheers!
