The Week Before Christmas

Well here we are, five days from Christmas.  Close to my place the traffic orbiting the two major shopping malls in the area is insane.  The other night it took me 45 minutes to drive about a mile from my grocery store to home.  But the good news is that the weather is mild and typical for San Diego.  So for those shivering in the east and Midwest, just to tweak your attention a bit, here is a shot I took yesterday after taking the RoadTrek out to charge the batteries.

Here is the San Diego Skyline from Harbor Island on December 19, 2018.  Notice the color of the grass in front of the Roadtrek… and the great lack of snow.   Although this is fun to “tweak” those out shoveling their walks, I confess even after all of the time I’ve been here, it is still hard to really get into the “Christmas Spirit” when it is sunny and 70 degrees out.  (Photo shot with my iPhone)

Over the past week I’ve given finals, made a presentation on Portraiture to a local camera club and been a judge for another, and I’ve finally finished grading (after allowing some late turn-ins who were especially good at pleading a case for mercy) and now am done with the Fall Semester’s homework.  I’m still trying to maintain a plan to go see my old friend in Santa Fe right after Christmas (to avoid the rush of the holiday) but other pressures such as visitors and my remaining un-replaced joints choosing right now to seriously act out are putting that plan in jeopardy.  I’ve heard that if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans and I made the mistake of mentioning these travel plans out loud so perhaps it is my own fault.  Honestly, I did not mean them as a challenge to divine creativity…

I cannot have my knee replaced during this break because the recovery period would not allow me to be back in harness in class by the end of January when Spring starts again.  But suddenly my shoulder is seriously acting up and so I just sent a note to the Orthopedic doctor to see if it would be possible to get in right after Christmas to have IT replaced and then, though I’d still be in a sling, I could get around and perform my instructional duties after a few weeks.  I’m not sure how I’ll handle the first couple of weeks since the cat, sympathetic as she may be, is not all that good at being a nurse, but I’ll work it out because anything is better than the past few nights where for the first time in a long time, I’ve managed to max out the 10-point pain scale.  It felt like Grendel was trying to rip my arm off at the shoulder joint.

Pretty soon I’ll have enough metal in me to set off alarms just by getting close to them…

I really did not intend to post anything this week since I did not have any new imagery to show or adventures to relate.  But it turns out that there is something really important I wanted to share.  In researching some quotes for the presentation I mentioned above, I came across this somewhat unrelated quote by Pablo Picasso:

“Do not put off until tomorrow anything you would be willing to die without doing.” 

Wow, that puts a whole new level of seriousness to the issues of procrastination involving things you’d as soon avoid.  But that quote, and some of the Christmas messaging and my own reflection stemming from my planning for dealing with the impending surgeries have conspired to make me want to put this out for everyone to consider. 

If you are surrounded by family or friends that amount to family, give them the best gift of all: your love.  And tell them how much you appreciate having them in your life.  Trust me on this one, when all of your family is “gone to their reward,” and all of your friends are off doing their own thing, and all around you wherever you look are couples obviously enjoying the warmth of each other’s love, you will discover that you can feel the most alone in the midst of a crowd.  It is then you come to appreciate those around you who care for you and about you.  So take the initiative, and while you still can, TELL THEM!  There will come a time in your life when hearing that is a far better gift than any new sports car, jewel bedecked trinket, or even an outlandish Holiday sweater.    

So have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  OR, if Christmas is not your thing but you do celebrate other holidays during this period, then I also wish the merriest of times for you and my the time be filled with fun, family and friend, and most of all, with love.  When those family or friends are gone, a whole new level of truth will be revealed about the cliché that “it’s just not the same without you.”  Tell ’em while you can.

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