I not only have issues with distancing myself – to the point of shunning – from the present, but I am positively prejudiced against it. I adore the past, and always keep a torch burning bright for the future. The present though, I could care less. I always am wishing it simply would disappear. And eventually you get your wishes. I wish dearly I could appreciate the present. And not just for a minute or two, and not just after a near-death-experience. I think that describes well what was happening there in South Dakota. All I needed was the present. I didn’t need any Earth-shattering memories of the past or intense yearnings and plannings for the future. I didn’t need my normally overwhelming fantasy life. I only needed to wake up in the morning. I remember telling people that, actually. Somehow a calamity puts things nicely in perspective. It’s dangerous to have things too good, it seems.
When I speak of the present, it means both the actual present moment, or more key perhaps, present day life situations.

originally published on 1/02/10