(Originally from my Piparskeggr FB timeline, yesterday)

Been reading a few things, thinking a bit..

I'm not a hugely accomplished man in many ways, and am so in others. That's the sign I've lived a life.

From time to time folks will ask if there is something I do not know about, something I have not done...

I wonder to myself, can their horizons be so limited that the bits and pieces of my life look like a wide frontier of experience?

I live my life. I like to learn things, sometimes doing something just enough to see how the skill works, lots of that water past the mill. I like to listen to new voices, new songs, see things I have never before…although I can be quite a hermit at times.

Everyday has to be a learning time. Truly, we can’t help it.

Midgard is overflowing with interesting people, places, creatures, things and occurrences, how can you NOT learn something every day.

On top of this, if you are speaking with someone, how can you avoid showing them something new from your store of knowledge?

The Gods quickened Man with Life.
The Gods set within us a Will to Strive.
The Gods unleashed our Minds to Think.
The Gods expect us to use their Gifts, for good or ill, as we choose.

I think, with the 5th anniversary of my pacemaker implant approaching, I feel the edge of the Norns’ shears being sharpened. I believe that they do watch every thread and see when the time has come to cut it and begin with a new one in the weave. I also feel that my thread will continue for quite some time longer.

It has worn thin at times, come near to breaking, but the core strands hold fast.

I also think that the uprooting Anita and I have done with our lives has been a “great disturbance in the Force.”

We lived in northern Illinois for the longest period of years since we left our parents’ hearths when we wed.

We had roots, which were sundered.
We had friends, who we will now see only once in a great while.
We had a house, which became a home.
We had a life, which became comfortable, but was a cocoon.

Anita and I have been together over 35 years. We have had our ordeals, but life has not been a dreadfully hard row to hoe.

We persevere, for that is
...how our parents showed us.
…how our grandparents showed us.
…how our aunts and uncles showed us.

Steadfast
Stand Fast
Hold Fast
Faith-full
Staunch
Sure
True…

Watchwords.

Everyone falters, Gods and Man know I do, oh so well.

However long it takes, it is if you try and rise after faltering that shows you Worthy of Life, Will and Mind.

I may not end up as Worthy at the end of my run, but I will surely live as if I will be.

A few pence upon the start of my 57th year.