Life at the Casa is strange; last night I had exhausted myself by barking at the trick or treaters and had crashed on the living room floor. Mia sauntered into the room and I awoke to find a red dog casually hunching on my head as if this is perfectly acceptable behavior, which it is not. I arose with alacrity to return the favor, while Max looked on from the relative safety of the couch, and dad tried to studiously ignore the debauchery occurring scant feet away, until Mom entered the room and order was restored.
The ancient Chinese had a curse: “may you live in interesting times”, but Charles Dickens probably summed it up best, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Emergency surgeries, major life changes, job loss, etc; if anyone had been on the outside looking in for the last few years, they would no doubt classify this era as “the worst of times” at the Casa del Whackos, but this is not the case. Dad and I were thinking of the good things that have also occurred lately, events so incredible that they can’t be defined or explained, so I won’t even try. Some have burned brightly only to seemingly flicker out and die, others are just beginning to smolder, but I believe all will bear fruit in due season.
In our country and in our lives, its very difficult to accept that there are no “good” and “bad” times, but only varying degrees of “good”, based on our perception. Imagine circumstances where the economy is causing a large corporation to quake, but during this time, a lowly worker at the bottom of the hierarchy celebrates the birth of a long-sought-after child; the corner office executive would no doubt describe it as the worst of times, while the receiving clerk in the basement would have a totally different viewpoint.
Or the case of the Casa; it’s always fantastic to liberated from your crate, but sometimes daunting to determine which direction to go to avoid being trapped in another. All I know is that one has to keep moving; if a Big Fish doesn’t keep water moving over it’s gills, it will drown in the very water meant to sustain it.
The point of all this? Don’t know that I have one in particular, except to keep us all conscious of the importance of movement; you can’t come through difficult times if you’re standing still.
There’s always plenty of movement at the Casa!
Top of the morning to ya Charles (and dad and the rest of the Casa)!!!! It’s a glorious day and those were wonderful words as always! Chark on!!!
A quote I heard years ago that has always stuck with me: “The only thing constant is change”. Change happens and it’s all in how you deal with it! Chark the day!
In order to get through “it” you have to go through “it”. No way to avoid “it” by going around!..
Great reminder Caharlie: Gotta keep movin’ no matter … ❤️
Beautiful picture and beautiful sentiments. Chark diem!
What dont kill you makes you stronger!!! My dear Charlie and family, who guys are the HULK!!! 🙂 Enjoy this beautiful day!!!!
❤ Charlie girl.
You made a very good point, well said.
Point well said, Charlie.
I’m liking those comments just like they are for me. I wish you luck and more good times in the present and future.
Your timing as usual couldn’t be better. Life can definitely throw curve balls at you when you least expect it. But your words and perspective always seem to be exact words I need to hear. Even the picture you’ve posted with these words are enough to turn my heart and head around. One never knows what adventures lay ahead around the next bend in the road. If you don’t keep going, you may miss the most beautiful place on earth. I think that nature is the best healer, and the best place to go to heal. I truely wish for you and the Casa all the love and inspiration you shared be returned to you times a thousand. Thank you. Please don’t ever stop sharing your thoughts and your heart!
Life is full of peaks and valleys, one just have ride thru them all and keep on moving forward,
Very powerful post! Always love to read your posts.
The reason that the above picture is special is because it’s where we took a wrong turn onto Little Cimarron instead of Cimarron, an experience detailed in the book. The road became a trail, then became nothing, the sun was setting and we discovered fresh bear tracks in an area we were considering spending the night; no gracias. Then Fletcher Larkin blew a tire, etc, etc.. For all the difficulty of that day, I wouldn’t trade it for any amount of money; even the picture is priceless to me.
As always, the images brought to mind are from one end of the spectrum to another. Love them all!!
Thanks for this. Charlie’s musings always seems to speak to me just as I need them. “You can’t come through difficult times if you’re standing still.” Truer words….