I is for Introspection

This post is a day late, and J is for Joe will appear later this afternoon.

I’d originally planned I is for Inspiration, but the death of a neighbour yesterday brought me up short.

The lady concerned wasn’t a particular friend. We would stop and chat now and then while walking the dogs, and she and my wife exchanged Christmas cards in a neighbourly fashion. But her passing struck chord with me… or more likely a discord.

She was about the same age as me, and like me she walked with the aid of a stick. I assumed it was arthritis (which is the root cause of my problems) but given her untimely death, I may have been wrong. RIP dear lady.

It brought home to me how fragile life can be, especially when you’re in your sixties. Sure, I plan on living to a ripe old age, but you never know what’s round the corner.

This is nothing new. I went through the same “revelation” when my mother died, again when my father died, and most painfully of all, when my younger brother passed on. But in those instances, I was much younger and not considering my own mortality. This time, logic dictates that I am closer to it.

The message was reinforced this morning with the news that Sue Townsend, creator of Adrian Mole, has also passed away, and she was just four year older than me. RIP. You brought so much pleasure into many lives.

I’ve been in quite an irritable mood lately. Intractable pain and other, distinctly minor health problems have combined with the upheaval caused by builders renewing the bathroom, to kick my usual productivity into low gear. Coupled to poor sales and a few botched DIY jobs which rammed home the message that I am not the man I used to be, it’s dropped me into a downward spiral.

Yesterday’s events prompted a serious rethink. Time to brighten up. Time to switch the attitude through 180 degrees.

It’s party time… if only because I don’t know how long I have left to party.