Life surely does run at uneven speeds, the Boy thought.
He lugged a tackle box into the living room where the Old Man sat with his feet nearly in the fire. Inside the box was a motley collection of hooks and lead split-shot weights.
“I’m ready to go crappie fishing, but I don’t want to do it when it’s raining and freezing cold,” the Boy said. “I’m ready for winter to be done.”
The Old Man snorted and smiled.
“You can’t change the pace of how things happen,” he said. “You can do what you can do and, no matter how much you’d like to be more directly in control, it’s up to the clock and the rotation of the Earth and other people to unfold the rest. Trying to speed time up when things are bad will drive you crazy. Trying to slow time down when things are good is a sure path to sorrow. In both cases, the bad and the good, you’ll wind up missing part of your life you can’t get back.
“The lesson, then, is to take deep breaths, feel what you’re feeling in the moment, and let life happen on its own terms. It’s going to do that anyway.”
“I guess so,” the Boy said.
“You can’t be everywhere and do everything, even for yourself, certainly not for other people,” the Old Man said. “That’s what scientists call a ‘fact.’ You can certainly try, though. Plenty people do. It seems to me they wind up missing out on more good than they make. The only thing I’d stress is to make the most of the sunny days.”
“Wasn’t that what I said?” the Boy asked.
“No, you were wishing your days away,” the Old Man said. “Making the most of the simple things we’re given to make us happy isn’t rushing anything, or trying too hard to hold onto something either, for that matter.
“I understand what you mean, though. Somehow it seems like the gray of winter last longer every year. You’d think, considering the hot weather we have to put up with here, we’d get to skip out on the cold, but no. I’ve never been that impressed with blizzards in the Northeast. I’d put a breezy, cloudy, 38-degree February day in a Mississippi river bottom up against any of them for pure discomfort.
“Come March, though, we start getting back a few sunny hours. Even if it’s cold, you need to go outside and let the sun shine on your face for a while. After a winter spent away from it, even a little bit of warm feels good all the way to your bones.
“If you see it’s not going to shine long enough to cover a fishing trip, don’t force one to happen if you don’t want. Still, though, just get outside. Time outside in the sunshine helps even things out. It helps you be easier in your mind, too.”
Kevin Tate is a freelance writer. Email [email protected].
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