Monday, July 28, 2008

Catching a Little Neutral

It was one of those days. As I sat in my hammock swing on our deck watching the clouds drift by and listening to the summer breeze in the pine trees, I wondered if this day would be one I’d remember years from now. Nothing much was happening in my life that could be classified as memorable, and the entire day had slipped by much as the clouds overhead were doing. Rocky and Tom were snoozing on the deck, Tom on the railing and Rocky on the floor beneath. Diamond was stretched out at the edge of the deck, watching and listening for any intruders on her property. Little Liberty was at my feet, tail wagging, waiting for an opportunity to play. It was a lazy day, and I wasn’t inclined to do anything but swing and observe the world around me

I remembered a phrase from a book I read this spring by Jimmy Buffet, “catching a little neutral.” He compared life to an automobile, which has three options, forward, reverse, and neutral. Life, he said, only has two choices – forward and neutral. We don’t have the ability to go backward as a car can do- to retrace our steps or select another route. But we can pause in our journey through life and catch a little neutral from time to time.

This is what I was doing on this sultry summer day. There wasn’t a single noteworthy thing going on in my life, and I hadn’t accomplished anything significant all day long. However, I was catching a little bit of neutral and enjoying every moment of it.

I think I will remember this day, after all.

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