Start Slow... and Taper off

"As I get older I'm more and more comfortable being alone." This is a quote I came across quite by accident and is attributed to Sienna Miller. She's 36 years old. It is a one line testimony to just how frazzled our world has become. Henry David Thoreau once spent an entire day, from sunrise, to sunset sitting at his doorstep. He never stood to eat, or use the bathroom and later declared it was the most productive day of his life. That left a profound effect on me when I read it years ago.

This coming June, I will enter my 4th year of retirement and still have to remind myself that I can take time to sniff the flowers. I do not have to be almost anywhere other than for appointments. Like Tom Hanks character in the desert island movie, I lived by the clock. Sure, I love to arrive early for everything. Punctuality is a dying practice, but hanging around afterward has never been an option for me. I was always rushing off so  I could "sit on the couch".

JoAn Martin's Tuesday column about 85 year old folks being content gives me hope that not worrying about stuff I can't change is in my future. I sat across from the Sun's managing editor, David Bloom and exclaimed that I would love to write about glitter and unicorn sightings, but there is just so much negative fodder available; I get sucked into writing about it. It's a black hole I simply have trouble avoiding.

Emma's Hugs is staging a fund raising event at McLeod Park in Mont Belvieu February 24th from 4pm to 7pm and I was asked to support it by gathering geocachers there for an event, which I am going to do. Why not? I have time and its a noble cause. This past weekend, SETX geocachers staged 2 trash bash CITO events right here in Baytown, even attending the event set by Baytown Tourism. The rain forecast curtailed their plans and they cancelled, but that didn't stop us from showing up with about 20 people and cleaning Blue Heron Parkway and associated trails.

Like Ms. Miller and Mr. Thoreau, I like my own company, in spite of the fact that I will group up now and again. My dad was the same way and would spend the whole day fishing in his boat far away from other people. He wouldn't even take a radio. I drove down to Galveston Sunday for a geocaching event that got delayed and decided to look for geocaches by myself for the rest of the day. I had a ball and found over 20. I might have turned on the radio though.

Years ago when I was a runner, I learned of the incredible running man, Walt Stack. His motto in his old age was "start slow... and taper off," but he always kept running. From Wikipedia: For 27 years, from 1966 until 1993, Stack persisted in covering a set training route. His highly visible training routine made him a San Francisco institution. "I'm going to do this 'til I get planted," Stack decreed. Starting on his bike, he would ride six hilly miles from his Potrero Hill home to Fisherman's Wharf. Once there, he'd strip off his shirt, displaying tattoos of peacocks, wild horses, and bathing beauties across his broad chest, and then proceed to run a 17-mile route over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back, after which he would take a one-mile swim in the currents of the San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island.

Even with folks in tow, Walt's exercise regimen was a solo sport. He wasn't doing it for anyone but himself and like my dad fishing, or me wandering around Galveston Island geocaching, a great deal of peace and contentment is enjoyed going solo. On top of that, the phase I have entered isn't measured by how fast I can accomplish it. Boy howdy. That is a revelation. I do not have to race.

When I was a runner, I always timed everything and always tried my best to set a new personal best time. Jogging slowed that down a bit, but then I went for longevity. I never stepped out to run, just to run. Now after nearly 4 years, I'm learning I can enjoy life a whole lot more by not racing the clock. When I was a Process Operator, I spent about 90% of my time alone and to this day do not regret it. I would tell people I was social by my own terms. Now that I am retired, I am enjoying people more than ever.

What's more fun than people? Maybe its a balance of them and me.