The more things change...

Summertime waterfront view

Last week, Melanie and I walked to the harbor on the waterfront, one of our favorite Saturday walks. This week, we walked to Fairhaven and the ferry terminal. Next week will be my last Saturday walk with her, before she moves to Oregon, making the commute a bit longer: like impossible. It will be our last walk together, and she agreed to let me take her out for lunch afterwards. She is almost all packed up and has just returned from a visit to her new apartment in the little town of Canby, Oregon, and has signed all the paperwork. I am reconciled to what will become my new normal. Nothing stays the same, and I will certainly miss my hiking and walking companion during the past few years. We started during the pandemic and never stopped after everything opened back up.

This is my first Sunday meditation post on my new laptop. Meet "Mavis," my new faster and better designed MacBook Air. I decided to go with the M2 chip, although it's a bit more expensive, because it's faster, and with a high-resolution screen where the colors pop right out! It's not going to seem any different to you as you look at my pictures, because I import them to the desktop in a lower resolution. It's all a bit more complicated than I understand, but I know that in just a few days I've already grown used to the speed and the much different keyboard. In fact, when I pull out my iPad at the coffee shop, I'm reminded once again what it's like to have to wait for things to appear, instead of seeing them instantaneously, as happens on Mavis.

I have also modified the pointer to a larger size, and I've learned how to make the outside of the pointer a different color, and now I don't have to keep searching for that pesky little cursor any longer. Unfortunately, though, the laptop has not learned how to create the post for me, so I'll have to continue to write it myself. Maybe I should learn about AI to do that part for me, too. But frankly, it scares me a little bit. Will we become slaves to the new AI mental ability? I'm reminded of SkyNet from the Terminator movies, which became self-aware and then decided humans were to be eliminated. But that couldn't really happen, could it? (shudder)

We have been enjoying the most perfect weather imaginable, while most of the rest of the country swelters. We'll most likely get our chance later in the year, but for now the temperature and cool breezes are delightful here in the Pacific Northwest upper corner of the country. I will be happy when I learn that Texas, where many in my family live, has returned to normal hot temperatures and not the extreme heat of recent days. I read that more than a dozen people have died because of it.

On my other blog, I lamented that now all of my four siblings have become grandparents, with me the only outlier. But my brother reminded me that his daughter has not had any children, so I was wrong about that. It did make me feel glad to know I am not the only one and have company in the grandparent-less family universe. I am an aunt and great-aunt many times over, and that makes me very happy indeed. I love the fact that there is no shortage of little ones in my immediate family. Mama would be proud, if she were still around. Maybe she does know anyway. I was reminded that by the end of this month, she would have turned 100. Instead, she didn't even make it to 70, while I, her eldest child, has managed to turn 80. Yeah, I know I bring it up all the time, but it's a huge milestone and weighs on me.

The most important thing I can tell you about aging is this: If you really feel that you want to have an off-the-shoulder blouse and some big beads and thong sandals and a dirndl skirt and a magnolia in your hair, do it. Even if you're wrinkled. —Maya Angelou

Well, it will be a long time from now before I decide to dress that way, but I'm glad to know that I can if I want to, right? Maya Angelou certainly did. She died at 86 and accomplished great things during her lifetime. She is still relevant and will remain so for a long, long time. When I die, nobody but my immediate family and friends will remember me, but it really doesn't matter in the long run. Sometimes I think I should write a book, or publish my posts in some fashion, just so that I won't fade into history without any trace. But I fail to see what difference it would make in the world; I'll never be a Maya or an Eleanor Roosevelt or even a published author. I will make my own history as I live and love each day of my life and let it go. My need for creativity and writing is pretty much satisfied by blogging, and making new friends through the magic of the internet. It's enough for me, and my happiness at the way my life has turned out is boundless. 

I am also filled with gratitude for so many wonderful ways I get to enjoy my days. To continue to be able to hike and walk, albeit more slowly than I once did, to have enough to eat and a place to live that suits me well, and to have my partner to share our days together, well, it's enough. 

Mama and me in 1943

When she was a young woman, Mama had no idea how she would live her life, how many children she would have, or how it would all turn out. I think if she were to look back from the vantage point of a century later, she would be pleased and grateful, too, for having had her moment on the stage, with a magnolia in her hair and an off-the-shoulder blouse, because she was like that. She imparted her infant with oodles of love and safety, and I feel it still today. As long as I live, my mother will continue to visit me in my dreams. Who could ask for more?

And with that, I will wrap up this post and look forward to the rest of my day. It's getting warmer, so I'll take a walk earlier in the day, after having had breakfast with my friend John, and spending some time with SG. And giving thanks for everything the universe has blessed me with. That includes you, my dear virtual friends. I wish you nothing but the best week ahead and surround you with love and gratitude. Be well.