Going to Hell in a Handbasket
The world is on a precipice. Should I attach a parachute to my handbasket?
The world is on a precipice. Should I attach a parachute to my handbasket?
During my life, I have collected a whole lot of baggage. The little handbasket taking me to wherever I am going becomes quite crowded at times. It often gets to the point where the truly important things get pushed into the corners and covered with other stuff. Left to that great destroyer — neglect.
Sorting through the basket
Last year I was given an opportunity to do some major cleaning. The photo club I belonged to was going through post-pandemic turmoil. Members who never want in-person meetings again. Members who want to have in-person meetings again. That kind of stuff. I was managing the club website. We were working on a transition to a new platform. I was supposed to be the project manager. Other members had other ideas and were not helpful in their collaboration. Herding cats is hard.
There came a moment of decision, and I decided. I decided I would be better off without them. I tossed the photo club out of my handbasket and found I had a whole lot of room in here.
After getting over the initial shock of not having the club responsibilities, I looked for what else might merit ejection. My personal website and my thoughts of becoming more than a photography tourist were next. At seventy-one, with creaky knees, I am not willing to put in the effort required to become a pro. I don’t need that in this handbasket with me so, the website — gone.
I haven’t tossed photography; I have just simplified. Displaying my photos through an Adobe Portfolio site instead of WordPress is so much simpler.
Another thing I like to do is tell stories. I get satisfaction from describing some of the details of a shot. Where we were. What challenges there may have been. You know that ego-building stuff. Finding Medium has filled that niche and bonus: I get a few pennies for my thoughts.
On the Home Front
I got married once. Don’t want to do that again. It was forty-nine years ago. We have had our requisite two children. We have a couple of grandkids. We have our arguments. We still have each other (it’s that better or worse clause). Our son joined the merchant marine and travelled the world for a time. He found a soulmate a few years ago and they have settled into a home north of ours. Our daughter found her soulmate quite a bit earlier and gave us our grandkids. Last year her husband snagged a good assignment as a civilian contractor to the Air Force. They moved to Germany.
My mother was quite disappointed when we took her grandchildren away to the interior of British Columbia. It was only a five-hour car ride. We have to enjoy a ten-plus hour airplane ride to visit ours — how’s that for karma?
We became (legal) immigrants to the United States twenty-five years ago. Got the Green Card. Sad that I feel the need to add the “legal” qualification. Unfortunately, in the social/political climate of the US today, it seems required. If I had known twenty-five years ago that I would be living in a land where there are mass shootings every day… If I had known how democratic this poster child for democracy really is… I don’t know that I would have brought my family here.
If you are still with me, you will remember that I created a lot of room in my handbasket last year. I filled some of it with too many hours on YouTube, binging on a lot of “grass is greener” channels that extol the virtues of Portugal and Spain as retirement havens. Great tax advantage schemes looking to attract investment that will promote jobs where unemployment is chronic.
My wife and I have been discussing emigration to an EU country. Having been born in England, my British Citizenship made the idea fairly simple. Unfortunately, my countrymen were, in my opinion, a bit shortsighted. Brexit will prove to be a disaster if it hasn’t already.
Fortunately, my mother was Irish, I have claimed my Irish citizenship and now hold an Irish passport. I now have full access to the EU again. The question is do we want to take advantage of it? Do I want to toss the turmoil and depressing news of these less than United States out of my handbasket?
Last Christmas we boarded that airplane and enjoyed several weeks with our kids, and several weeks on our own wandering Tuscany and The Rhône River Valley. We enjoyed Avignon. We enjoyed the warm and dry Mediterranean climate. January was mostly overcast but wandering the streets was pleasant.
Yes, France has some political problems right now. The people are upset that the retirement age is being raised by two years. Macron has done this without a vote in parliament. The people are rioting in the streets, but they aren’t shooting each other for no reason. The French people can still go to their village markets and do their shopping without fear of some ass shooting the place up just because.
Testing the Waters Some More
This fall we are returning to Europe. We will land in Germany and enjoy our kids, both generations. The plan is for Liddy and I to leave my wife with our daughter’s family. We will head out on a grand adventure. We are going to peddle the ViaRhôna, a cycle route from Switzerland to the Mediterranean following the Rhône River. It is an eight-hundred-kilometre challenge I have added to my handbasket. On completing that trip my wife and I will regroup in Valencia for a couple of weeks. Our first trip to Spain.
In my seventy-second year, I have collected a lot into this handbasket. There is much I want to keep, there is more that I should toss, and there is a lot that is on the edge. While in Germany, France and Spain I will be watching the noise coming from our current home. One way or another, a decision will be made. We are lucky. We have options.
About Rover Dave
Going to Hell in a handbasket…
Picking up trinkets along the way.
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