Willie Says!

 So . . . I'm having a little back issue here, not unheard of in a man of my advancing age.   Still . . . . I don't like it.  It is not what I want to have happen . . . to me.  Whenever anything like this happens I think of one of my favorite family of words: forever, never, always, etc. etc.  I can be a dramatic dude with a limited ability to put things in perspective.  Makes me think of that expression  ". . . the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."  It's a good expression.  Irritates the hell out of me most of the time because I'm a guy - we fix things.  We don't wait for things.  We're in ACTION.

We have a cactus in our front yard called an ocotillo.  It's a thin cactus that puts out a number of thin arms from its base that shoot straight up.  There is a humming bird that has decided that he or she is going to periodically sit on the very top of the tallest strand and look around as the cactus sways in the wind.  It's preposterous to look at but I think that ruby-throated hummingbird may be god.

I am also in the throes of cancelling a much anticipated hiking trip to England.  The entry requirements are just too onerous and malleable and confusing.  Take this test, take that test, self-quarantine, quarantine in a government approved lodging for 10 days at $1800 per person, everything changing almost day by day.  What happens if I test positive for CoVid before we leave or get the bug while I'm there or run into someone sick on the plane who is asymptomatic?  It reminds me of driving around without a seat belt on: I've never had a car accident so I assume my next trip will also be accident-free but - boy - what a chance to take with some potentially horrific consequences.

I was sitting at the computer yesterday trying to figure out how to navigate through all of the tests and requirements, frustrated as hell at all of the conflicting evidence, and I thought: ". . . the courage to change the things I can."  I started to cancel shit this morning.  I know, I know - dude doesn't get to go to England boo hoo hoo.  Still, a quality problem that is affecting me deeply.

I've told a few friends that the trip isn't happening.  On the phone today Willie says something along these lines: "Yeah, well, that's probably a good idea.  You're probably making a smart move."  This is why I talk to people - something that I can't see past or through is blindingly obvious to someone else who doesn't have any skin in the game.