 |
| Mike at Christmas, with Funko Pop bobblehead |
This is my buddy Mike, best friend since third grade. As you see above, he has a sense of humor. Mike's life has followed a very different trajectory from mine. He started off as a lover of history, but he's ended up working for his brother-in-law at a prominent real-estate firm. He's also married and has three kids—two grown-up daughters (one of whom I'm proud to say is my goddaughter) and a college-aged son. The daughters moved out, and the son is sometimes in residence. Mike is lucky to be married to a pert, commonsense wife named Rebecca. While I'm not a fan of the noise and chaos that come with families, there are times when I quietly envy what they have. Mike's life could have veered down the path of becoming a history professor, and I admit I've badgered him, in the past, about not having taken that path, but in the final analysis, I think he's where he needs to be, where he's happiest.
We're both 69ers, with Mike being born a bit more than a month before the famous moon landing, and me being born a bit more than a month after it. I joke that we're the open and closed parentheses to that event, right at the tail end of the tumultuous Sixties. When we turn sixty, we're supposed to walk part of the Camino de Santiago together. Sadly, that may end up being one of my final walks; I've already been in the hospital twice in recent years, so I see my life as similar to the flight path of a paper airplane that flies true for a few yards before wobbling and very suddenly crashing. I think I'm in the "wobble" period right now, so I'll do what I can to last at least until sixty before I suddenly kick off.
Mike's been a conservative all of his life, but unlike the left's caricature of righties, he doesn't lie awake at night plotting the downfall of black people and thinking of ways to promote white supremacy. As conservatives go, he's pretty bland: not a fan of Trump, but lately, not a fan of Republicans in general... which makes him a pretty normal conservative these days: most no longer respect the Republican party, which they see as feckless, spineless, and directionless. If I remember correctly, Mike has been active in some local politics, doing what he can for the area he lives in, which is historic Fredericksburg, Virginia (Stafford County).
With Mike being two months older than I am, he's always first over the birthday cliff, so I'll wish him nothing but the best as he and I both muck our way through the lives we've chosen. Getting together is a pain, what with me living on the other side of the planet, but since I'm planning to visit the States next year, we might be able to work something out then.
Happy Birthday, Mike!
Is Mike a hiker, or is the Camino de Santiago thing a one-off? I think you will live to experience it and carry the memory into old age. Your current health issues might be considered a blessing in the sense that you have the opportunity to make the needed changes to extend your life. I had a friend once who was a daily jogger and seemingly a picture of health until the day he collapsed on the street and died.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, stay positive and live your dreams.
Historically, Mike is not a distance walker, but he's been practicing lately. We're only supposed to do the final ~120K of the Camino—enough to earn the compostela (certification)—and at 20K/day, that should take almost a week. It doesn't take much training to be able to walk 20K a day, especially at a slow pace. 20K is a modest distance (about 12.4 miles, less than half a marathon). I'm confident Mike'll be ready when the time comes. But will I??
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. There are times where I think that I should have accepted the badgering more and become a history professor. But all has turned out pretty well. I am now walking every other day regularly as my foot is healing up. I hope to be back to every day in the next week or so. Then I can get back on track for adding distance and time to be ready for the Camino. Rebecca suggested that when my foot is better that we go to the mountains and try a short hike over some terrain. That sounds like a good idea to me.
ReplyDeleteAs we grow older I find my conservatism is coming down more and more to an amalgamation of Edmund Burke, Michael Oakeshott, and GK Chesterton. The phrase of Oakeshott's that keeps passing into and out of my mind is that to be conservative is to prefer the familiar to the unfamiliar, the tried to the untried, fact more than mystery, limited to unbounded, convenient to the perfect, and "present laughter to utopian bliss."