Independence Day

Yesterday's sky

We had a cool front with possible rain move in last night, and the sky all day long yesterday was filled with these incredible clouds. I kept stopping in my tracks and gazing up at their beauty. This picture was taken from my front porch. This morning is cloudy and cool; right now it's 15C (60F). And last I checked, it's the day before the Independence Day holiday and it's sizzling all across most of the rest of the country. I'll take this temperature any day, even with the rain.

My Sunday morning routine is changing a little: this morning I need to be across town before 9:00am for a new yoga class. I've signed up for a Level I class that is only held early Sunday and in the afternoon on Thursdays. Since that's my hiking day, I'm going to see how it works out for me to take this class. It might be too advanced for me, since Gentle Yoga has been just right for months now. Here's Yoga Northwest's description of their classes. They hold plenty of other Level I classes, but I like Laifong's approach. I took a free class that she taught, and I was impressed with her ability to teach someone like me. She's a young person who, I think, sees me as someone she can help. I really like that. I'm not leaving my original instructor behind, though; I'm taking one Gentle II a week with her as well.

It wasn't that long ago that I was searching for a yoga studio that would be right for me, and now I'm signed up for my third semester of taking two classes a week. I find that smaller class sizes with plenty of correction possibilities helps me more than anything else to advance in my quest to gain flexibility and core strength, the things that will assist me in keeping fit through my seventies. That and aerobic exercise are key ingredients.

For the past two mornings, I have emerged from sleep after having vivid skydiving dreams, both very realistic and wonderful: it's almost as though that activity has not left me at all, and continues to give me pleasure. There is no sense of loss, but instead a satisfaction to think of skydiving being part of my DNA. With so many thousands of skydives under my belt, I guess it's changed me permanently. That makes me smile, just to think of it.

Tomorrow is America's Independence Day. "July Fourth in the US is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress declaring that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and no longer part of the British Empire."

And lately I've been watching the news about "Brexit," where Britain has been calling June 23 their own independence day after the referendum that gave the British people the chance to leave the European Union. Nobody seemed to think that it had a chance of passing, and now the whole world economy has been turned upside down. It not only passed, but now there are rumblings of Scotland and Ireland leaving the British Empire. Everything changed with the passage of that referendum. I was really dismayed to learn that the "Leave" voters won. Frankly, I think most of the Brits were dismayed as well. I found this BBC website that explains how the vote broke down by age:

From BBC

Even though the young people in Britain voted overwhelmingly to stay, it didn't matter much because they mostly didn't bother to cast a ballot. Just think how different everything would be today if they had. It's amazing to me that people don't exercise their right to vote! I have never missed a chance to cast a ballot. Whether or not it makes any difference in the long run, I feel I've done my part. But then again, I see by that chart that most of us of a certain age feel the same way about voting.

It will take several years for Britain to actually leave the European Union, but in the meantime the world economy suffered another shock. Although the stock markets have mostly recovered their huge losses, the long-term effects will be around for years. Whatever happens in our own presidential election in November is another potential shock. I'll be watching the two conventions that will be held in July and hoping that we get through this without any terrible things happening.

And that's not even mentioning the upswing in terrorism all around the world. No wonder, when I think of it, that I feel a sense of dread when I consider the state of society today. My sister and I have commented to one another that it's a good thing we're old now; we won't be around to see the worst of the world's turmoil. I was born and raised in a part of the globe where I haven't, until now, felt the effects of political upheaval directly on my day-to-day activities. With Independence Day tomorrow, I'll breathe a sigh of relief when we make it all the way to the middle of next week without having another terrorist bombing somewhere.

My heart aches for all the suffering and turmoil that goes on every single day on this planet of ours. But one of the things I get to choose is what I focus on: do I want to feel that dread and fall into despair, or do I want to focus on what I can do to make my own little corner of my world a little bit better? Every Sunday morning I sit down with my laptop and feel the day as I compose this post. I never know for sure what's going to emerge, what I'll find on this page when I finish, but it is one thing I do for myself and for my readers. In a way it helps me to connect with all that's good and right in the world.

It's almost 6:30am, and if I'm going to make it on time to my yoga class, I'll need to wind it up here and change my focus toward the day ahead. So, that said, it's with a glad heart, not a heavy one, that I wish all of you dear friends a wonderful day ahead. Be well until we meet again, and don't forget to give your loved ones a hug, virtual or actual. That's what I'm doing with you: sending you a hug, can you feel it?