Lately I've been thinking a lot about balance, as in my life. I've been working too much lately. I've been worrying too much lately about unimportant things. I need to get my life back in balance.
The past few days I've been updating my Find a Grave.com (acronym FAG) account. There is only one reader of my blog who knows what Find a Grave.com is. We're volunteers who take pictures of gravestones and post them to a website. I've talking about this "hobby" of mine before. Some may think I waste my time, it would be better spent in going to church or say, volunteering my time at a local thrift store or some other endeavor they consider worthy of filling up my "spare" time. But folks, walking around graveyards, enjoying the peace and non stress of cemeteries give me a peace of mind that I rarely find in other quarters. I prefer to make my own decisions as to what to do with my time.
I go to work where there is all too often some kind of emergency. I come home and try to figure out how to pay ever increasing bills on my mainly fixed income. Just this week I received significant increases in my car and homeowner's insurance. Consistent insurance increases are my biggest concern in my retirement. At my former home in Pennsylvania, ever increasing taxes were my constant concern. Always something.
Then there is my health. A year out from my prostate procedure I still have fatigue that requires me to take a daily afternoon nap. Then there are the side effects. Annoying and not suitable for discussion in this family friendly blog.
It seems there are some that feel the need to volunteer my time for one of their causes. Uh….no thanks. I appreciate the thought but my plate is quite full already. About a month ago I was quite annoyed when a stranger who I didn't know posted publicly on Facebook that I should "take the lead" in helping a sick member of our community. Where did that come from? Who is this person volunteering my time that I don't know? Trying to shame me into volunteering. Again folks, I'll run my own life. I'm the best judge of how I spend my time. Why don't you volunteer your time instead of taking to Facebook and trying to shame me into volunteering my time?
So for the next several months (or longer) I'm going to take time out for…….myself. I'm going to start posting my thousands of photos that I've taken over the past two years of cemeteries I've visited here in southern Delaware and during our trips South. So if anyone is thinking of volunteering my for something, my plate is already full. Cast your gaze elsewhere.
