CURRENT DISAPPOINTMENT, I’VE GOT A FEW

My current disappointment, and it’s not much, are the cherry blossoms of downtown Portland.

I’ve been on others to get down there before they drop.

What says spring better than a stroll along the Willamette River under a cherry blossom canopy?

If I don’t go, it’ll be another year to wait.

Do I go alone on a secret cherry blossom mission?

Mike Warner from KATU shot an overhead view with his drone and posted on twitter, so if I miss it this year at least I’ve got something.

What makes his video more special for me is the history of the area. My history.

In my twenties I’d leave my apartment on NW 21st for a run, warming up with a jog down Lovejoy to the Broadway Bridge ramp, continuing under the bridge past the painted up Pillars of Portland.

By the time I hit the river I was up to speed and running fast. How fast? I don’t know, but no one passed me.

I’d take it down to the Hawthorne Bridge and turn around for the run back.

There were times I ran through a pink blizzard as the petals dropped.

Call me lost in a Portland baby boomer reverie, but boomer or not, it was beautiful, psychedelic, and worth sharing.

What are the chances of dragging the kids down for the show?

I watched Mike’s video with my wife.

 

Wife: Is that today?

Me: Yesterday. Looks good.

Wife: If we had gone last week like you wanted they would have been bare.

Me: Not that good.

Wife: Let’s go tomorrow after I finish a few things in the morning. We can have lunch where we got the lobster rolls during the Blues Festival.

Me: Let’s go. Pencil me in.

Wife: But we’ll have to check the weather. Or we could go on Saturday with the kids.

 

Or?

 

Current Disappointment In Waiting

All I’ve ever asked for as a writer is an even break.

That’s not what preoccupies me while I’m writing, but in review.

An even break for what, for who?

I’ve clocked in for my 70th year and don’t mind saying it’s going pretty good.

Not houses on the mountain, at the beach, a downtown penthouse with a panoramic view, and a shoreline mansion on Lake Oswego good, but still pretty good.

My car starts kind of good, my best wife kind of good, my kids and their kids kind of good.

I want them to get the sort of breaks I got to make it to seventy and still have a pulse.

I want them to take five mile walks with their kids when they’re seventy, pound ping pong and beers, and give their best effort when needed.

Now, let’s be frank. I won’t know anything about what they do at seventy, but there are hints with their health consciousness, their kindness to others, and devotion to their family.

No current disappointment there, just no plans here on being alive past ninety at the long end.

I’ll do the math: 90 – 70 = 20.

That gives me twenty years to do what must be done, twenty years to figure out what I haven’t figured out in the last seventy?

Where to start?

 

You Can Do It

At some point in life, the earlier the better, family becomes a priority.

That’s if you’ve got a family.

Usually that includes someone who identifies as a wife, someone who identifies as a husband, and a pet if not children.

The longer they stay together, the more they depend on each other.

For example, I depend on my wife for doing laundry since she’s not too enthralled with how I put everything in at once.

 

Wife: Did you separate the laundry?

Me: Yes.

Wife: Then why do my clothes have the same grease stains as the rags?

Me: Because you changed the oil in the car?

Wife: I’ll do the laundry.

Now, let’s understand, we’re talking about laundry when I say this: never tell a spouse you’ll do your own laundry.

That leads down a slipper slope of, “I’ll make my own food, buy my own clothes, and watch what I want to watch on TV.”

Make the compromise, be the helpful partner, and let the other person do all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning.

It’s like a gift you’re giving them of your own free will.

Be that kind of giver and you might make it to your next birthday.

Try and not be someone’s current disappointment, but if you are, you may be on the right track.

People like to see a little effort. Start slow.