A to Z Challenge - D is for Debut

On this day in 1953, a debut on the world stage:

And today, another debut...

Officially a senior citizen. Officially an old age pensioner. 

Officially the government's problem (tee hee!). 

Time is such a contrary companion. When I want it to go fast, it crawls. When I want it to slow down, it slams into hyperdrive, and it never stands still no matter how much I plead. While it is an uncomfortable fact of life that many more years lie behind me than ahead of me, what these coming years will bring me is a mystery. And I do like a good mystery, a hands-on adventure!

Mount Misen, Miyajima Japan, 2015

I have learned that there are really only two reasons for doing anything -- love and fear. There's nothing wrong with fear, a healthy, rational fear of real things. The biggest, scariest real thing for me now is future health. It's not just a fly in the ointment, but often seems more on the scale of a velociraptor. My body has already betrayed me in small but undeniable, occasionally embarrassing, ways. So you won't find me mountain climbing, rollerblading, snake charming, bungee jumping, or even doing something so risky as drinking a full glass of water before a half hour car ride.





You will find me working out, walking, eating as I ought, enjoying a glass of wine, or perhaps sipping a cappuccino in a faraway place. You will find me in the company of the people I love, doing the things I love, in the places I love, and grateful for the love and life I am so blessed to experience.



Something else I've learned: life is not about perfection. It took some fifty+ years for this avowed perfectionist to learn this one, and I'm sure refresher courses will always be a part of my life. I've given some considerable thought to this debut over the past weeks, some of it has been rather melancholy (regrets, I've had a few...) but now that I'm here, well it's time to boldly go where many have gone before me - step out into the new day and work it.




Life is about doing the best I can, enjoying each day as it comes. And at the end of the day, it's about being content with what I have done and what I have not done, so that I can look forward to a new day, new joys, new adventures.

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. 

And then it's amazing again. 

And in between the amazing and awful 

it's ordinary and mundane and routine. 

Breathe in the amazing, 

hold on through the awful, 

and relax and exhale during the ordinary. 

That's just living heartbreaking, 

soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. 

And it's breathtakingly beautiful.”

 L.R. Knost

©2018 April Hoeller