A dry road

I've been pretty quiet lately - mostly because how many times can I find a different way to say "be prepared"?  Be prepared for what?  For whatever:  bad weather, no power, lack of potable water, bad people and/or any combination of the above along with some surprise additives.  And I sure as hell am not going to touch on politics!

All of this definitely limits the subject matter for this blog (what does blog even mean?).

So this morning I realized that in the moment all I really want is a dry road.

With the conviction that all dogs want and need to walk outside, every morning I take mine and we're off to see what we can see.

Mostly all I really want to see is a dry road.

One not covered in slush and salt.

One that doesn't just look dry while cleverly hiding patches of black ice.

One that invites confident strides and a heads up approach to the day.

One that does not look like this - with not even enough snow for decent traction!

Or one that could look almost good but not really like this one does:

A slippery road causes you to take those damn mincing steps where you try to keep both feet directly in line with your body at all times - thus reducing the chance of slippage.  You look and walk like an old person.  Which makes you feel like an old person which makes you consider just going home and having a nice cup of tea - or something- tequila would be good.

There is something so friendly about a dry road:  it inspires confidence that we can walk even further today than yesterday.  It fosters the belief that all worries about slipping and falling are just figments of an overactive imagination.

Even if it's not paved, a dry road is something to trust:

A dry road lets you walk with your hands in your pockets - a slippery road demands that you keep your hands free to aid balance in case you start to fall.

A dry road is your friend - a wet, icy, slippery, nasty, ugly....well, you get my drift - that road is not your friend.

This is short and sweet but the message is that I wish you all dry roads and confident approaches to the days of your lives.

All I really want myself is that dry road!

Pssst....look!

Just in case you thought that all my rantings about empty grocery shelves were a nasty rumor, take a look at these:

These pictures are as current as it gets.  The storm that hit the south eastern states was well forecasted  - everyone knew it was coming.  So, I ask you, why are the shelves virtually bare in one day?  Because people do not keep any supplies in case of an emergency - weather related or otherwise.  Now just visualize a situation where the supply chain is totally screwed up (technical term) and there is no one coming to refill these shelves and all the other empty ones around the area.

It's not rocket science to realize that if you don't have anything in your home to get you by for at least a few days there isn't going to be anything available after that first rush.

Please, kids, lay in some "stuff" in case....yeah, just in case!  It doesn't have to be fancy Wise Food long term kits.  It can be as simple as staples from the grocery store that will keep a long time without spoiling.

I'd love to keep on reminding you (it's not really nagging!) but I need to go out and shovel!  It's totally up to you whether your family can sit back and enjoy a storm or if it's a cause for total panic about your food supplies!

Three shot glasses

I'm betting we all have certain rituals or habits that we build our days around.  Things we do to remind ourselves of what we need to do and things we do that make it easier to remember where we are in the day.  And things that are just plain habits.

For instance, I always set up the next morning's coffee the day before - well, almost always. Occasionally I wonder what that smell is and why there's no coffee in the pot just in time to realize that yesterday didn't go quite as planned!

Another ritual involves three shot glasses:

Yup, shot glasses - commonly used as illustrated above as vessels for alcohol.  However,that's not what I use them for.  I used to think that I was using them as a depository for the various vitamins and calcium and cranberry pills and so forth that I take every morning.  Put the pills in them three days at a time and then all you have to do is take them and not fiddle around with them every day.

Recently I realized that actually those three glasses are counting down my life.

It dawned on me that I was filling them up every time I turned around - or at least that's what it seemed like.  How can they already be empty?  Didn't I just put the pills in them?  Has it really been three whole days?  But...but....it's only been......yeah, three days.

How could that be?  What have I done in these past three days that let them slip by practically unnoticed.

#did laundry

#walked the dog

#shipped my brother and his wife a DVD

#is that all I can remember?

My mother used to ask me what I had done on any given day to "justify my existence".  I rarely had an answer but I was left with a lifelong feeling that every day I had to do something worthwhile or else I hadn't, in fact, justified my existence!

My point this time now that I'm finally rolling around to getting to it is that life just passes by.  You fill up three pill containers (thank goodness I don't use those ones with seven sections so you do a week at a time) and, voila!  they are empty again and three days of your life have vanished.

It's not particularly original of me to say we all need to pay attention as our life unrolls - more eloquent writers than I have put it many different ways to probably greater effect.  They've said things like "stop and smell the roses" and "don't blink or you'll miss it".

So all I'm saying is pay attention - you don't actually have to do something momentous to "justify your existence" on any given day - but do something.  Make the phone call to a friend, let someone go ahead of you in line, finally send that e mail you've been promising you would send....your choice.

I'm betting there is something that you can do today that'll make it a day you will notice before it's in the rear view!