The Amaryllis, given us by a friend a couple of weeks ago at Christmas, has one stalk in full bloom and the second about to trumpet its ‘life springs from a dull brown clump’ message to anyone who’ll pay attention. With my life expectancy somewhere around 82, I have about seven years left. That means I have two more extra days in my life. The first of those is the fifth Monday of next month. That’s something to give me pause, five days in any February. But we are taking off into a leap year, so we get an extra day this year, next month. I’ll have another one in 2020 and that’ll probably be the last.
Let’s not get morbid though, dwelling on having but two extra days left. It is much more engaging to think about how exciting it is to have an extra day so soon as next month. Just think, no appointments that fall on a regular monthly basis. In fact, nothing on the calendar except for the handful of pills to be taken qd; that’s an abbreviation my retired RN wife uses to mean ‘every day.’
Since I’ve already spent 18 of my life’s extra days oblivious to their gratuity and opportunity, maybe I should think a bit, maybe plan how I shall spend Monday, February 29, 2016. I don’t know how many of these freebies you have left, but you might as well come along and join me in thinking about how we’ll use the day. OK, so it isn’t exactly a freebie since the world does go on as though that Monday does not differ from the previous. It is not our fault though that the world of commerce and government has not planned meaningfully for an occurrence that has been a regular feature of our days since the Julian calendar was abandoned in 1582.
If you, as one of my readers, are living in Paris, we hardly need to chat about where you’ll go or what you’ll do with this day on which you’ve nothing scheduled. You’ve got so many things to do. It’ll take most of your day being tousled by camera-toting tourists who are also trying to see that small-framed marvel known as ‘Mona Lisa.’
Probably, my planning should not aim at so lofty an activity. My aforementioned wife isn’t looking over my shoulder as I write this, but she need not for me to know that she would prefer that I simply hack my way into the study to order the debris-strewn field that until recently served as my computer desk. This laptop has served very well to prompt my avoidance of that project.
I know! Neither of us have indulged in our hobby and favorite activity for some time. She’d enjoy it if we could add a species to our Life List. We can take our binoculars, spotter scope and lunch and drive to Ohio’s Lake Erie shore. To paraphrase Thoreau, everyone believes in something, I believe I’ll go birding.
check out our friend Cindy’s beautiful photography
Sanchismos 