What can you write about when you have made a commitment to be consistent in your blog posting but have nothing to write about?  Ideally, you want to write something people will read.  But, when the goal is to post something and not my readership, you can get away with about anything you want.

If I were to talk about tonight’s unexciting dinner, I would tell you how it was a hybrid.  The hamburgers were warmups.  The salad was a mix bought at the store.  (I dumped it in a bowl.  Then, I tossed in the crunchies, the cheese, and 1/2 of the dressing.)  The broccoli was a 3-pound bag.  I chopped it up into more mouth-sized chunks before putting it in the oven to roast at 350 for 45 minutes.  (I tossed it a couple times along the way.)  The conversation covered the workday and the dinner options for tomorrow night.

Or, I could discuss the drain snake that was inadequate for my needs.  The roots have a firm hold in the drains around the perimeter of the pool.  With a large elm tree nearby, this should be no surprise.  What was a surprise was the hunks of concrete that I could manually remove from one drain.  I cleared the visible network of roots. But there are far more.  I see an encounter with an essential worker who will miraculously clear out my drainage line for a donation to his favorite charity.  Or a check for his company and a tip for him.  (Or her…how sexist of me.)

Finally, I am unsure of the next work project that I have been teasing myself with.  The spreadsheets need to be reviewed, and the viability has to be determined.  And, before we could make any actual money, there would be a series of water hazards to avoid.  If I only had some other fantastic options, I could give my involvement a thumbs-down and move on.  While this option may not be great, this pathway is certain to have some colorful stories.  And colorful stories are more interesting than filler…

As I do my daily morning walk, I see a regular cast of characters.

• I see the guy who walks with the broomstick handle.  Is he prepared to ward off a coyote that might attempt to get friendly?
• I see some bicyclists that are only recognizable by their tattoos.  They go by so fast without warning.  If I did not see their arm or leg tattoos, I would not be sure if it were the same person.
• I see the slow jogger who often walks.  He is usually chatting on the phone when I pass.  When he sticks his hand up and acknowledges me, his body language implies, “I am cooler than you, but since we are in this pandemic together, I will give you some love.”
• There are a few wide and wrong walkers.  They walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk or right down the middle.  My inner rule follower wants to be less nice than I usually am.  I pass wherever I can while doing my best to keep the 6+ feet of separation.

And, up until recently, I saw this guy frequently.  He has a crew cut and a small gut.  He appears built for walking.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, he was the guy who would wait until he knew you were looking at him.  He would give a 2-finger wave with one hand.  The hand would pivot from his waist area. Beyond his cool gesture, he may have moved his lips a little.  That was it until today.

Not having seen him in a while, I stopped today and waited for him to approach.  I asked him, “I haven’t seen you in a while.  Where have you been?

He replied, “I have been busy.”

In the time of COVID, does busy mean you were sick and recovering?  Does it mean, “We may walk at the same time occasionally, but I am not interested in moving you up the friend ladder.  Why would I want to do that?”  Or, does it simply mean, “I have been moving my kids to college and my walking suffered.”

In my world, I assume somebody wants to know the answer to the question they asked.  And, if they wait on you to make sure they can ask you the question, they must think something of you.  If somebody went to that effort for me, I would give them more than a canned, “I was busy.”  The person who paused is showing extra concern beyond the, “We share the path and I will wave at you the first time we pass on the circular path at the park.  Anything beyond that, and you are doing some crazy thinking.”  Well, I must do some crazy thinking!  He must have a lower need for social interaction than me, OR he must get an abundance of it at home.

Regardless, in the time of the pandemic, I guess I falsely thought people would be interested in feeling like they were missed…I know I would.  As beautiful as my family is I have shared the house with for the past 6 months, it would be nice to connect with some random people again.   When my introvert is fully charged, my extrovert just leaps out of my mouth sometimes.  I am expecting a few more hops or jumps before the week is out.  Not everyone can be “busy.”

I didn’t have to let all the tasks pile up until this week.  It just worked out that way.  Between the yard, the pool, and the removal of the expanding foam sprayed along the top of the house to keep the wasps out, I have been exceptionally busy.  All the tasks were predictable.  I knew I would close the days with an achy back and tired legs.  (I woke up Saturday morning with my left knee muscle twitching uncontrollably.)  The pool was the real unknown.

Over the past month, I have tried to get two quotes on fixing the skimmer area of the pools.  I had to call to have the first quote sent to me, and the second quote never arrived.  On the quote I received, I was told the cost was over $1,000 and the pool would need to be drained entirely.  After checking with my buddies at the pool store, I found the product I needed for under $40.  It would be a little messy.  Fortunately, it was not allergic to water like the companies that provided quotes.  I would just have to remove a couple inches of water.

Today was the day of the siphon.  YouTube videos provided the shortcuts.  It still took us two tries to get a slight, but continual trickle out of the “bye-bye” water end.  After weeding in the backyard for two hours, the water level was nearly as full as at the start.  I tried to expand my siphon knowledge and move the hose around, but it made no difference.  In frustration, I started heaving 5-gallon buckets of water out of the pool while my wife was preparing dinner.  Mocking my wife’s tone, my son came out saying,  “Don’t hurt your back, luvvy.”  I was trying hard to use my knees, but tomorrow will bring what it brings.  Believing myself ingenious, I am letting the siphon work all night.  If I have missed something and if the siphon speeds up, the pool may be empty by morning.

Tomorrow I will be mixing this cement-like stuff and applying it to the areas of need.  If I wait until mid-week, the pool temperature will shift past refreshing and into the near-polar-bear range. (A cold front is coming through.) So, whether or not I like it, tomorrow is the day.  If I do it correctly, I get to save myself a few dollars.  And, if I do it wrong, I will hope to give it a favorably retelling.

We all change, and life has taught all of us lessons.  I know I have changed, too. When a decade or two or more pass between your time in high school and those friends you infrequently now interact with, a casual meeting will not allow them to see anything beyond the superficial.  A quick non-discerning glance will show I have most of my hair and I weigh in the same neighborhood—give or take a patio—that I weighed in a high school.  A conversation will show you more.

• Parenting changes you:  Until you are a parent, you only have a hint of what it takes to be one.  On top of our own children, we had foster children, exchange students, and random other children or young adults who volunteered to be subjected to our special form of life.  Not every guest left of their own volition, but we didn’t lose anyone.  Not every problem can be solved, and if is is solved not everyone is going to be happy.  We accepted it, and we were better parents for it.
• I am security motivated and not money motivated:  Prior to getting married, I was certain is wanted to be “rich.”  In the decades since, I found I was targeting the wrong type of rich.  My middle-aged rich is, “having what I need for today plus assurance I will have enough for a few days after that.”  Once you have achieved that goal, you can either desire more, or you can become content.  Once you are content, it is more difficult to “owned” (i.e. employed) by someone who values your time far less than you value it.
• Giving back has a variety of flavors:  Once you accept your daily blessed, regardless of your circumstances in that moment, you want to be part of the solution.  For my family, that has taken a variety of forms.  As noted above, we have done parenting on a variety of levels.  Although we sometimes faltered, God loved all the children in our house.  As the parents, our non-biological kids and biological kids kept us challenged.  We tried to see each kid like God saw them, but it was not always easy.  Any Christian can likely say, “I should do more.”, but we have tried to be proactive in our missions.  There is no shortage of people who need Good News.   We seek to reach those we are uniquely qualified to serve.
• Marriage can get better every year:  Not every day of our marriage has been a home run, but year over year, we continue to grow together.  We both have committed to work on it.  I may not be pulling my weight yet, but I try harder every day.
• It is okay not to like everyone:  As a Christian, we need to be respectful of everyone.  This does not mean that everyone acts respectfully.  We should, “Do unto others as we would have them do to us.”  But, not every person you meet is meant to be your best friend.  If a person doesn’t bring out your best and you don’t like who you are around them, you need to stay focused on being your best you…even if you are temporarily disappointed in yourself.
• You are never too old to take on a new and challenging project:  It seems like I have been trying to learn a language for more than half my life.  It is a combination of not fully committing and not having the right method.  Fingers-crossed the present method will work.  I prefer not to paint or do some other projects around the house.  When I realize the money saved, I put my reluctance on the shelf.  This blog is also an example of this.  I have made multiple runs of being consistent in posting.  If anyone is reading this, they are taking part in a double-digit attempt to reboot it.  And, I am old enough to risk boring you to death recounting all of my other projects that did not come to a satisfactory conclusion.  Tomorrow’s project will be redemption.  d
• I have strong political opinions, but I only talk about them if invited:  If we were to meet, my goal would be friendship.  But, if you can only talk about politics and this politics differ from mine, than the conversation would end quickly.  If we both agree politicians are self-serving regardless of their policies, we would have a point of agreement.  If we would continue talking about politics, then some issues may come up.  The purpose of bringing up these issues is not to convert the other person to your opinion, it is to find points of agreement within the issue–the gray points.  However, I read a lot, so I am pretty sure we could have a conversation and only tangentially touch on politics.

“You haven’t changed.”

I have heard that a few times since High School.  With high school far more than just a decade ago, the simple statement could be confused with a compliment.  The California friend I had lunch with earlier in the week also made this observation.  I have met him possibly five, but not over 10 times in the past 15 years.  If I use this 15-year window, it might better explain the lack of observable aging.  As is often the case, there are many possible reasons why this could be occurring.  And, should I choose, I might mention a few of the reasons I am sure aging is not ignoring my body.

• This comment seems to go mostly from men, although my wife does not dispute its validity.  At a quick glance, I seem to have everything I had in high school.  My weight is within 5% of my later teenage years.  My theory for this is “basic training.”  Immediately after high school, I went off for the Army National Guard.  In the 2-month period, I was there, I lost 8% of my body weight.  It took 4 or 5 years to get back to my high school weight.  Within the first class reunion behind me, I had people confused as to what my overall body mass was.  Additionally, my mother always claimed I put extra weight on in the wintertime, and I was “big-boned”.  Having known many of the friends through a few Ohio snowfalls, my body has been a co-conspirator in my perceived body weight.
• My hairline is seemingly unchanged compared to many of my peers.  Appearance can be deceiving.  I know there has been a slow and steady retreat towards the top of my head.  My daily visits to the mirror confirm this.  If their “hair loss” awards me youth points, then I will accept this as “good genes”.
• My support socks do give some evidence I am getting older.  As I talked with my sons the other night, “varicose veins are not great genes, but there are far worse.”  If I need to feel old when I look at my legs, I also need to remind myself they walked 6 miles this morning.
• As we grow older, grooming habits have to change.  I have had to change my habits, and I don’t enjoy it.  While the top of my head has kept much of its hair, what I have lost has migrated to places formally needing no maintenance.
• Could the observations be compromised?  Could their eyes, memories, or minds be aging at an unaccountable pace?  Am I aging correctly, while the expectation of those complimenting me is the origin of the problem?
• Some clear indicators of age easily slip unnoticed.  I may not appear gray, but wait to see how I look after not shaving for a few days.  Possibly I am misremembering, but I seem to have groupings of darker pigment on the back of my hands.  Could they possibly be spots?
• I have taken my vitamins for years.  As my age changes, I have adjusted the bottles tucked under my sink.  Whether it is the vitamins or the daily awareness of eating well, I will let someone wiser decide.
• The most important factor may be the strongest indication I have been doing the right thing for the past few years–my life is low stress.  Yes, my kids and my business have given me moments of stress.  Yet, the stress has been of the short-lived variety.  I have dealt with the stress of being self-employed.  (I have found this stress far better than in some office environments.) And, I have dealt with the stress of having more kids (both bio and non-biological) in our house than was reasonable.  Hugs would not fix the problems they created. Usually, my wife stepped in before I started banging heads together.  Could I also mention marrying well is a good way to keep the stress down?  Oh, and I don’t put up with friends that are great at creating stress.  If they don’t change, we spend much less time together.

I have warned my wife that I may wake up one morning and have aged a decade.  But, until then, I will enjoy the ride and not be a braggart.    Genes are a dice roll, but I try to do what I can to help the genes along.

I waited 6 months to blog about the pandemic.  Why?  I am guessing laziness plays a role.  And not having a “Why” makes it more difficult to give others a peek into how my mind works.  I am uncertain I have anything worth peeking into.  Yet I will post a few entries to find out if the peeks have any value on this side of my mind.

This post is a filler because I am have nothing else today.  My “better brain” time was spent meeting with a friend from California for lunch.  And, I talked on the phone in the rain.  My phone case got water in it and my AirPods stopped working.

I have so few good thoughts a day.  If I don’t capture them during their optimum times, then the moments are gone.  I muddle through the day thinking I have nothing to write if I miss those periods of creativity.

I will try to maintain the experiment.  I am not asking anyone to travel down the road with me.  I am seeking the discipline associated with blog commitment.  If I excel, I will trust myself with more.  If I fail, I will be grateful I didn’t quit my other hobbies.