I Have Returned

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 42:5

Well, I haven’t exactly been seeing Frodo off at the Gray Havens, but I’m back.

My last post was on July 30. After the late, great unpleasantness of five weeks of radiation, I took the month of August to Ponder, one of my three words for the year.

I spent time pondering what projects I should return to, if any. I spent time pondering what I should do with this blog. I spent time wondering how I could manipulate the retirement numbers to move up the date.

NARRATOR: The date has not changed.

I’ve known all along that I planned to return to the blog today, and that the plan is to post every weekday. So for a good while I considered that the title off this post would be The Summer of our Discontent.

I didn’t run with that for two reasons.

Yeah, I had a crappy summer, but yeah there was some good. While this is my blog and by default the focus is on me, I’m not the only one dealing with challenge.

Let me just say that, as noted, I finished treatment and rang the bell on July 28. For that I am grateful. There are some lingering side effects. I’ll spare you details other than to say that the worst of it is a lack of energy and strength. Those are coming back. Slower than I would have liked. But each day is a little better.

But how can I focus on my own troubles when there’s so much going on in the world?

COVID numbers are spiking, the Delta variant is flaring, and we’re all sniping at each other over vaccines and masks.

Here’s where I am on that. I didn’t want the vaccine, but I got it because it was the responsible thing to do. I’ll get a booster when it’s offered. I’m old, and just weeks out of cancer treatment, it’s the wise thing to do. I think everyone should get the vaccine. Having said that, I don’t think anyone should be forced to get the vaccine.

I’ll also note that my masks are newly laundered and ready to be worn when required.

That’s all I’m going to say about that.

As if COVID wasn’t bad enough, the news from Afghanistan seems worse every day. It didn’t have to be this way, and I think we all know that.

Your assessment of blame may vary.

Haiti has been devastated by an earthquake and tropical storms. And on Sunday, the 16th anniversary of

The Write Side Shop
(click the pic)

Katrina, Hurricane Ida hit the coast of Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane. Recovery will take weeks, months, maybe years.

I was reminded of my post Katrina construction trips and how, years after that storm, the city had not recovered.

In the grand scheme of things, it makes my problems look somewhat minor.

Oh, they’re not minor to me.

And none of these are minor to God. None of this has taken Him by surprise.

You might ask why He didn’t stop all of this pain. I can’t answer that for you, and I won’t offer empty platitudes.

He is God. It is not my job to question Him. My job is to trust Him.

I mean, if I was going to ask Him questions, I’d probably very selfishly ask why I had to go through cancer a second time.

These are some of the things I pondered over the last month. Some of it I fortunately got to ponder on the beach. For that, I’m grateful.

It’s September now. Not officially the end of summer. But my wife is in her second week of teaching, my sons are back in school, and I’m realizing that this year’s leaves are going to cover the ones I still didn’t get up from last year.

So, we regroup.

In my grand plans for setting things aside, I was going to hold off on any theater involvement until Santa season, which is fast approaching. But I got invited to do two projects. Somehow, saying yes felt normal. I’ll talk about them later.

In my grand plans for getting back to “normal”, I’m changing things up a little on the blog. I’ve not spent a lot of time writing about politics, but I’ve been including some news links at the bottom that reinforced my own opinions. I may still include some interesting links, but they won’t be pushing a particular agenda.

While I hope to write every day, I also hope to not make it all about me.

I mean sure, I’m so vain I probably think this blog is about me.

Hopefully, however, there will be things that you find interesting to read, or helpful, or inspirational, or even funny.

And if, as Lina Lamont says in Singin’ in the Rain, “we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain’t been in vain for nothin’. Bless you all.”

Thanks for stopping by.

I Have Returned

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