I have lived a very long time and I am filled with gratitude for this journey.

I no longer understand so much of the world. I have been left behind not wanting to keep up. Not wanting to have the latest and greatest.  Wanting instead to cling to the sound of the mountain wren, the spume of whale, the diamond like sparkle of sun on the water, the inexplicable joy of riding a wave.

Maybe it is the age. Maybe my tolerance has hit the tank.  My gauges no longer want to re-set. I want the last part of this life to be the easiest – even with all the associated body part failures.

This is the time to pass the torch. While always in the distance, it has come to be in the present.

What I want to learn now has nothing to do with anything machine/tech driven.  The kids can do that.

I want to play with the water in my paintbrush … the soil around my arugula … the fabric running under my sewing machine needle … the caress of failing eyes on printed ink on a page of paper … the richness of a story I can lose myself in … the delight of one that I can tell …

Yes … pass the torch … this time is rich … this space so vast if the illusion of closure is torn aside …

Here I am. Awake again.

There you are … reading my words.

Here we are still together and lucky for this journey.