A Favorite Post

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Country Lane, Fall, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Sometimes I just wander with no particular purpose, no destination, no goal. (Except to maybe find or create  blog material).  This little pastoral gem of a location in rural Plymouth brought to mind an old James Taylor song, "....walk on down a country road."

As a retiree, I've gained some perspective from my former working life: it seems there was way too much hurryin' and scurryin' around. I like the more leisurely pace for man and beast alike suggested by this scene.

And speaking of leisurely pace - that's as good a definition of retirement as any. Retirement is like taking a really, really long vacation - and who wouldn't like that?  Retirement in my case is also about the release from duty - duty to the air traffic control mission, duty to the job, duty to the public, duty to my co-workers.  It's a hard habit to break - sense of duty. I still miss it - and them -  I suspect I always will.

But now, the pull of a simple life is hard to resist.

And since I invoked James Taylor earlier, I am also reminded of another of his tunes, "....the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."  I enjoy the luxury of having carefree blocks of time to simply wander about, explore randomly, neither agenda nor fixed purpose to drive me - just simply "be" - like I was as a kid in the 1950's. Back then there were no play groups, no electronics, barely any television - kids had to create their own things to do by themselves - and it was almost always outdoors.

Today, it seems that everything must be scheduled and planned. It just leads to more hurryin' and scurryin'. I think I'll just sit a spell and think on it.


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