Growing older can be difficult but it beats not growing any older

At least for me, celebrating my birthday today. It’s a little horrifying that it’s my second pandemic birthday; this time last year, it never occurred to me we’d be mired in the Trump Virus nightmare that long. On the other hand, six months ago I figured the pandemic timeline might leave me and TYG stuck at home until 2022. That we may be vaccinated within a month or two is astonishing.

Pandemic aside, life is good. True, there is no question age is taking a toll. My knees are stiffer, other parts of me ache in various ways they didn’t use to and obviously I’m that much closer to a fatal something than I was thirty years ago. But that said, I had a friend younger than me die last year, and a friend roughly my age die a couple of years before that. That I’m still around and in good health for my age is pretty miraculous.

I’ve been writing full-time since I moved up here. I was nervous as hell giving up my job on the Destin Log, even though I knew moving up to be with TYG was the right choice. I’ve been able to pay my bills since then, just by writing (well, some census work the first year too). That’s really remarkable. A little erratic and nerve-wracking at times, but that’s a small price to pay.

And as I wrote a couple of birthdays back, age does not keep from doing my work, nor do I feel the need to retire. Writing is fun for me; I’d be thrilled if I could concentrate on fiction some day but if I’m still writing Leaf or similar articles that’s far from a horrible fate.

And I’m with TYG, and we’re happy and that’s just awesome. There have been occasional dark times in my life when, while not suicidal, I wondered if anything would really change for me if I kept going. Turned out it could, more than I ever imagined, and better than I ever imagined. Lord knows, I couldn’t imagine making it through the pandemic year without her. Or our menagerie.I shall spend today thinking about my ongoing projects and how to organize and prioritize my time. That’s as close to work as I’m going to come. Otherwise it’s bicycling, movies, reading, pups and whatever TYG has planned (nothing involving going out, for obvious reasons).