What's Next?

9/8/09

The slogan on my Peace Corps ball point pen reads, "Life is calling. How far will you go?". Well, we went. Now what?

My feet feel frozen in concrete, unable to move in any direction. What difference does it make whether I attribute this state to retirement, Peace Corps, or my own reticence? Sure there are things to do, people to meet, activities to fill out the day. I may be riding my bicycle around the park bike paths, pushing the remote channel changer, or setting out to read every Pulitzer Prize winning novel, but these actions just fill the time between sleeps. Indeed there is pressure to step in where I was before, but of course time changes all things and what was in no more.

At one point in my life, I vowed to be a Taoist monk, somewhat in jest, somewhat seriously. Taoism espouses there is an unforced, natural way of things. Just show patience and the Tao (Way) naturally occurs. Well, here I sit with both Mary and me wondering "What's Next?" Just how far we will go is up to the Tao. The one sure thing is that something will happen. C'est la vie.