10 Seconds to Nowhere

You know how you wake up in the middle of the night with some idea and it won't go away, that instead imprints itself on your thoughts  so hard that when you wake up at a more convenient hour, the first thing pulsing through your brain is that floating figment? Well, this was my thought, and I have to get it out of my system or it is going to be pursuing me all day, like an itch in the arch of my foot, not quite satisfied with a good scratching. Lucky for me, there are you, kind readers, who know what to do if you don't want to read this!

Thought (which will take a lot longer to write out than the BAM impact it had when I got bopped with it): Somehow, you know you only have 10 seconds to live. The question 'What would you do if you knew you weren't going to be around very long?' doesn't even have a chance here. You can't exactly fly to some paradise, read those classics, bungee off a bridge, spend more time with your loved ones, make up for some long held grudge that doesn't matter anymore, tell your friends and family you love them and the reasons why. You only have 10 seconds. Only long enough to think rapid-fire of what is left undone in your life. Those chances and opportunities you wish you'd taken. How so much that you thought mattered really doesn't. That one last hug/kiss/smile you hurried past giving. Or not.

You may stand there with a goofy grin on your face, thinking. it was a hell of a ride! Sure, there were mistakes and sorrows and regrets. But that's how I moved to the next step in the journey until I got to here...

I'm not sure where that came from; like trying to suss out the reason for a crazy dream, sort of impossible. Maybe it was some photos I was sent yesterday from a long time back (thanks, Mace, I think!), and a decision I made back then that totally changed my life - and eventually brought me to Culebra.

St. Thomas 1998

Or the anniversary of living on Culebra ten years and thinking about what is ahead. What I really do know is that we can't imagine having only 10 seconds left, we can only try to live like we would if we knew that moment was coming. Which it is, one way or another. Ok, I feel better now.

Have an un-shackled Saturday. Do something scrappy.