Thoughts About Being Calm

 The other day I was smoking my Sherlock Holmes pipe while sitting here on the patio listening to and watching the rain fall.  It was so calm and peaceful as I listened to quiet music on YouTube on our outdoor TV.  I felt so calm.  Some might think I spend too much time alone.  But I never feel lonely while smoking my pipe, because at my age, I have a lot to think about.  My pipe and my thoughts keep me company.  

That is the joy of quiet.  Smoking a pipe requires no electricity and needs no batteries.  It is almost as old as civilization itself.  Maybe through history some have died from smoking a pipe, but I contribute my  health to my pipe, although I might be an exception and as I've said before I am not an evangelist for pipe smoking, because I think my cardiologist might have been right to say no tobacco use is best.  But I have been one who always believed myself to be exempted from norms.  I am not normal.

I won't say rules don't apply to me, because they most certainly do.  One example is that I have always been careful when around children.  Rules and laws apply to me.  And people in prisons are often silenced and out of mind.  So, rules apply to me.  But while in some ways I might be exceptional, I am also odd, unusual, different, and even flakey.  Pipe smoking just seems to be natural to me.  As Mark Twain once said of himself, some of us are born to smoke a pipe.  He also said there are two important days in a person's life, and those days are the day you were born and the day you find out why.

While the wisdom of Mark Twain might be lost on us today, the fact is that we each have a reason for our existence, but it is hoped we don't find out our importance on our deathbed.   In fact there are many reasons for our existence.  And we'll have many milestones to mark our lives.  

I'm feeling somewhat philosophical aboit life today, but the rain the other day seemed to instill in me a certain calmness about life and living.  Maybe we think we don't have enough, but if you have clothing, shelter, and a pantry of food you have enough.  Family adds to our wealth as do friendships and the relationship to others.  I might spend a lot of time by myself, but I am never alone.  And that thought is calming.  Some people fear being alone, because they fear loneliness.

Maybe if I didn't smoke outside I would spend less time alone, but I've enjoyed being by myself.  I feel I am my own best friend.  But I need people around.  And THAT is my point.  Someone is always near.  Those are my thoughts today, but the calm is still with me this morning as I smoke my "haunted" Gettysburg  pipe with my new Old Professor tobacco this morning, which i will review in the next couple of days.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave