March 29, 2017 SEASONS IN THE SUN

Rain, Rain go away. I know that's really a saying associated with April.....but this March continues it's bipolar behavior. It's been cloudy and rainy for several days NOW and--I just need it to end. It is somewhat warmer but that's all relative when it's 30 degrees out with a NW wind of 15 mph. Add some rain to the mixture at mile 5-- stabbing chards of ice--against my youthful (huh) face. Although it  hurt a little it was also refreshing in a strange way. Running against the elements is a liberating experience REALLY. The human body can withstand most things right-- it's all a mind game. Seriously. Just make the decision to go out there--meet the weather head on--and you will be surprised--Not kidding.  Mother nature does challenge us every season-- it's up to us to meet that challenge. That's the HARD part. Thankfully, I have short term memory loss and can't remember what I did yesterday. It's all good. Speaking of memory, I just finished an interesting book on this very subject called The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.

Tony Webster is a middle aged, divorced father of one living in London. He is comfortable in his life, gets along well with his ex-wife and daughter. He has no regrets and never really worries over the past. One day he is notified that he's inherited five hundred pounds from his old college girlfriend's mother. She has also left him Adrian's diary--a long dead friend from his school days. Tony is perplexed as he had only met Veronica's mother once and he hasn't seen or heard from Veronica in 40 years. This forces Tony to remember the past. He takes us back to his school days and his memories, as he tries to sort out why he is the recipient of gifts from someone he hardly knew. This book is a reflection on how we remember the past. On what we remember, select to remember or change to suite our purpose. We are in many ways defined by our past, our memories of them and they unconsciously effect the decisions we make everyday.  Anyways, this is an intriguing book--when I finished the last page, I immediately started reading through it again. Find out about Tony's life and why Veronica's mother remembered him in her will when you read this Man Booker Prize winner. It's a short book of about 160 pages--or a 3 mile run--that can be read in a few short hours. Although it's short, it's lessons are long.