Thinking about time passing us by...usually without a turning signal to give me a heads up about where we're going to go.  But time doesn't always give us direction, we need to steer our own ship while to clock is ticking.

Sometimes I am really grateful that time is moving on, leaving old scenarios behind and introducing us to new ones with fresh excitement and cheerful tunes.  These new melodies have a warmth and a pleasant light that brighten our path and lead us to new experience.  And yes, for these I am very grateful...the balmy breeze of  a summer's evening, the splash of cool water in the ocean waves, the morning songs of beautiful birds at the feeding in our back yards.  These gifts help to keep a balance with daily tasks of the material world: car repairs, light bills computer freeze-ups and so on.  

Time passing by gives us new eyes and new ears each day to catch a glimpse previously little-recognized events that were waiting for us as the hours, days, years go by.

 

SO, my question is, what is a lifetime?  do each of us have a ticking alarm clock ??

I purchased a nice little vacuum cleaner at
a very LARGE retail store a while back with a $2 a "Protection Plan".   Well that was on 9/6/2018 and the vacuum cleaner just broke, so I contacted the protection plan company and "chatted" with their very nice helper, and after typing in some receipt numbers (which I had saved) and some login information, "she" informed me that my plan expired on 9/6/2020 - at the end of the "TWO year plan".   So I asked, wasn't mine plan a lifetime plan - not just 2 years??  She said, only some plans are “”. So I asked, why wasn't mine a lifetime plan?  She said only refrigerator water filters are lifetime!!! well that was that, I thanked her for her time and assistance (I really wasn’t that upset – just perplexed) and I really don't need a refrigerator water filter that badly!! Not ever?  And not today anyway!

  SO, my question is, What is a lifetime?  do each of us have a ticking alarm clock or a blue ribbon somewhere at the finish line? Can we actually “buy” time somehow? Or is it “preordained”? Do we have any “control” on how long a lifetime might be? Billy Joel sang, “Only the good die young” as did Neilson in Abraham, Martin and John. Maybe this age-old (no pun intended) query is striking me now because I just crossed the 7-decade threshold and have been collecting Social Security for almost 10 years (Is it really that secure?)  But say, if we adhere to a very healthy diet regime, daily exercise, practice meditation, prayer and charitable service to others, does this give us a longer warrantee? Do vegetarians live longer? Do star athletes have guaranteed physical health until their last(??) breath?  Do saintly lives mean actual longevity?

    I think this is a subject well-worth pondering.  How long is a day and how valuable are the hours and minutes?  Could we all have more “meaningful” lifetimes if we asked these questions. In a wonderful impromptu interview on VH1 back around 1998, George Harrison proposed that inquiring about the “lifetime to come” gives us a much- needed sense of purpose and direction as we move on towards the “finish line” – from this life to the next, however we perceive it.

    So, I guess the moral is, if you buy a small lightweight vacuum cleaner, please, yes,  buy the 2-year protection plan, save your receipt and feed it lots a fresh vegetables if you want to use it for a long time!

The Prophet Muhammed said it best (paraphrased), “Trust is God and have Faith, but tie your camel”. So Please take care of yourself and those around you, as we all move steadily to a finish line somehow, sometime, somewhere.  And just to point out, this is the Baha’i month of Masa’il – meaning Questions!

          

The Long Walk Home

                                                  

I measure the distance

By cracks in the sidewalk

The number of houses

The minute hand on my watch

The worn out soles of my ten dollar sneakers

Or the puffy white clouds that pass me by

The ocean of space in the deep blue sky

The notes of the songs that play in my ears

These are the landmarks that I've seen though the years

But not the real markers that guide my way

These are much deeper - not of water and clay

These are the yearnings that I feel in my heart

Seeking some solace and to make a new start

“Dreams and schemes and Circus Crowds”

My inner spirit cries aloud

For meaning and purpose – just why and how?

Now I turn the corner and what do I see

The end of my journey just ahead down the street

Decisions I make for today or tomorrow

May well provide me with great joy or some sorrow

So I watch my feet as they step along

Then look up at the trees as I hear a new song

Not made of notes or rhythms or chords

But angelic voices coming straight from the Lord

Guiding my steps as I find a new way

Urging me onward to greet the new day

Though I may no longer   measure each stride

I just picture the ocean and the roaring tide

For the inner journey is not on the ground

But deep in my soul where true life is found

So now I’m nearing my welcoming door

And the long walk home has been traveled once more.

Larry Hosack  October 2013

Winter… Where hath gone thy fury?

Winter… Where hath gone thy fury?

What has become of the ice and snow that chilled 

               our limbs to the bone?

Where is the mantel of white that covered even the 

               roughest of landscapes?

When will you revisit our humble clime and once again 

               reveal your icy beauty?

Is there even a hint of your wrath as the winds die down 

              and the sun grows warm?

Can my chilled ears adjust to the refreshing sound of 

              warblers and jays and children outdoors at play?

Can the rushing waters of melting snow gradually become 

              the pleasant gurgling of a bubbling brook?

And now will the once-tired muscles from the shoveling  

              of the storm be replaced by the April task  of raking 
              away the old layer of lawn with its winter debris?

Is the frosty breath of a winter’s morn soon to be transformed 
              to the sweat of the brow on a quick morning run 
              or neighborhood stroll?

Questions, only questions.  And more queries to ponder…

               as the days become longer and brighter…

But the warmth of the Spring sun has once again 
               begun to erase the memories of 
               the harshest season in our fair land...

Filling the void with a joy and a glow that sinks deep
               into the heart of every true New Englander…

Hush now, the peepers are singing once again….
               and the crocus in all its tiny glory has 
               burst into the sunlight of the New Dawn…

Y'all come back now - but not for a while!

Bailey and Phaedra - happiness defined!

                                                                            

Memories of yesteryear often leave me dry

Hoping for the future, can make me kind of high

The mysteries of creation, keep me asking, “why”?

And living in the present is something that I try.

Worrying about money, can be a foolish thing

Learning another brand new song, always make me sing

Sanity is a treasured prize to which I firmly cling

And when hugged by my little granddaughters – I might as well be king!

Trying to stay healthy – is always a daily task

When wishing for divine assistance, we only have to ask.

I’m waiting for the summer sun, so in it I can bask

I‘m trying be open and truthful and put away my mask.

Although I’d like to rhyme all night – I have some things to do

Like cleaning up my basement space – but I haven’t got a clue

Of what to throw away or keep – and what to fix or glue

And send this little poem on Facebook for all of you!

With lots of smiles and joy!  Larry (the artist formerly from Lyman)

I Walked a Mile at Wal-Mart

    I walked a mile at Wal-Mart tonight, not inside but out -- in the parking lot.  I measured it with the van’s odometer, put on my hat and scarf and my $16 knock-off mP3 player from Hong Kong and stepped out into the night, flashlight in hand so I wouldn’t get hit with parking lot traffic.

    I do this because I need to, I’m diabetic, type II - and exercise, mainly walking, is the best thing for it, cardio-workout and all that.  And besides avoiding chocolate candy, ice cream, cookies and other no-no’s it helps to keep my blood glucose level down and shed some pounds at the same time.   But the fresh night air makes it all worthwhile with my favorite tunes playing in my own ear buds’ music studio.

   But what I really want to say is what’s inside my head and heart while all this is going on outside.  A warm sense of gratitude comes over me at times like this and my mind flashes from one moment in my life to another with emotions churning and filling me with wonder that I’m still alive at all!   Not to mention being happy with my life, my family and friends, my work, my music, my hobbies and always trying to learn about and practice more of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith.  I have several Bahá’í prayers in my mind and heart which well up within me, giving comfort, clarity and direction, sorting out all those moments from the Past and present with all their bittersweet recollections of people and places from bygone times.

    At this particular moment I’m feeling a bit overly serious about all this reflection, so maybe it’s time for a little relief.  A reporter from the big city asked an old-time Mainer sitting out on his porch, “Have you lived all your life in these parts?”  And the gentleman responded, “Not yet…”

    And that’s’ about how I feel at this moment.  Looking forward as much as back, knowing that in December, coming up later this year, I’ll be singing, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me…?” and feeling like it’s a true miracle how rich life has been and seems to continue to improve.

  We did have the “empty nest” for a short while and happily our daughter and two beautiful grandchildren have made sure that we always remember our child- rearing years!!   I can’t say that our home was quiet before - we always have had music playing either live or recorded, and Leona has learned and perfected playing the 5-string Banjo in the past five years,  and we have the piano, a keyboard and guitars are always handy - but there’s nothing quiet like the laughter and unabashed playfulness of tw young girls, 3 and 7 – to keep things lively!!!

     Lastly tonight as I review this epistle, I have been strangely moved by the reading of a very special Biography of the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi Effendi, who did more in a short lifetime (he passed away at just 60 years of age in 1957) for the future of humanity and our beloved planet Earth, than anyone will ever know until future historians can get a clear perspective on the evolution of Unity among all the races and nations of our world, still enveloped in the painful birth pangs of a New World Order that Shoghi Effect propelled with a “quantum leap” into a viable, functioning and divinely ordained Administrative Order, outlined by the Prophet-Founder, of the Bahá’í Faith,  Bahá’u’lláh and His Son, the Perfect Exemplar of His Teachings, ‘Abdul’-Bahá during the past 150 years – with very few of our world’s leaders,  religious or political have even begun to peruse.

    So tonight I am a grateful man, with so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to.  Please God may I walk the straight path and keep my sights on the beautiful sun-lit horizon of the Dawn of Peace and Unity for our beloved earthly home….   ‘night all

Larry

South Berwick, Maine

PS - these are my own thoughts and reflections not official viewpoints of the Bahá'í Faith, for further study of the Bahá'í teachings please check    <www.bahai.us>

Birthday Poem Number 02102012

Birthday Poem Number 2-1-2012

I promised I would write a poem

Strictly from the heart

Also a month has passed us by

I think it’s time that I should start

Leona, my better half, was born on February 10^th

And our son Adam 38 years later

So on the 10^th we went out to dinner together

And a cake that was brought by our waiter!

It was a cozy restaurant up in Portland

That goes by the name of Silly’s

And as we sat and enjoyed our meal

We all had a case of the dillies

Now you probably haven’t seen a full case of dillies

But they’re packaged with smiles and laughter

It seemed that there was no end to the jokes

The came with the entrees and continued thereafter.

We sat together Leona and Adam

Who of course were our birthday stars

And Anisa also joined the occasion

After finding a place to park our three cars.

We missed the “girls” Phaedra and Bailey

And Jason was caring for them both

And we also missed Catherine and Greg

Who live many miles to the south.

But while thinking of everyone in our family

We shared some really good eats

And when the cake arrived we all sang the song

That came with the birthday treats.

So I say to you wherever you are

To share birthday joys with each other

Get all the gang and go out together

Whether father or mother or sister or brother.

Now Adam and Leona are one month older

And I’m grateful for our night on the town

But any family outing is really great

So celebrate your loved ones the whole year round

Larry Hosack

March 2, 2012