Relative Something

*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Confusing Days

with 2 comments

Don’t be confused. Today is Sunday. The solar eclipse will happen tomorrow. The championship game of the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament tips off today.

I don’t know why I’ve been so disoriented this morning, but I mixed these up at least twice before finally realizing where I was in time and space. Maybe it started yesterday. Cyndie and I huffed and puffed to drag the tangles of vines we’d collected up to a temporary staging area.

Before I attempt to craft an entryway arbor out of them, I will need to spread them out to see the individual twists and turns.

When I went in for lunch, Cyndie stayed outside to putter on other projects weighing on her mind. I got a text from her that she came upon a pile of vines we had missed.

Absentmindedness? I thought we had gotten them all.

It’s the kind of thing that leaves me thinking, “What else have I forgotten?”

My past is getting mixed up with the present recently because we have decided to “declutter” the remaining 100 record albums from our life-long combined collection. Long ago, I sold a majority of our library in the transition from vinyl to digital music, but I couldn’t part with the works of our most adored artists and a few one-of-a-kind records that would never be re-released.

After 45-50 years of holding most of these albums, we are ready to send them back into the world. Since our collection wouldn’t bring an impressive amount of money from buyers, Cyndie sought (and found!) an interested party who would appreciate them in a spirit commensurate with how we feel.

I’m not agreeing to this step cold turkey. For one particularly rare Eric Clapton album, I checked online for the availability of every song and then created a personal playlist in the exact order for my digital library. Attaching the artwork to the file gave me the comfort of a memory that will serve as a special link between albums of my youth and the digital library I’ve switched to as I age.

We’ve successfully saved our children from any guilt they might feel if they had to throw these away after Cyndie and I die.

Now, what else am I forgetting?

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Written by johnwhays

April 7, 2024 at 10:13 am

2 Responses

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  1. This resonated with me, John… losing a sense of time and place and one’s part in it. I guess we also might be getting ever more frequent glimpses of eternity: how we are somehow a part of all that has ever existed… known to some as Always Coming Home… that said, how lucky we are to be able to recognise the divine in just about everything: it is no wonder, we lose track of things, when consumed by the wonderful. Yes, I SEE the wisdom in the Tao expression: Be Broken to be Whole… Great love to my WONDERFUL brother and sister – you never cease to be truly amazing!

    Ian Rowcliffe's avatar

    Ian Rowcliffe

    April 8, 2024 at 2:50 am

    • Much love to you, Ian! Hope you and all your family and creatures on the estate are faring well. I lament the distance that prevents us from sitting together on the porch with a beverage and chatting about the beauty in the surroundings.

      johnwhays's avatar

      johnwhays

      April 8, 2024 at 8:56 am


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