There are a number of things that I am happy that I’ve done in life, one of them is volunteering. Specifically, I learned so much in the short time that I did hospice volunteering while in Charleston. I got to see the affects of long-term care on the caretaker. I got a little training in the psychology and stresses of long-term care and, quite honestly, this helped me in taking care of Hobbs and not having feelings of ‘guilt’ when there were times that I was just tired of doing it.

When I got tired of doing it, I let someone else take the help; I had no respite caregiver; however, I would take a weekend to myself, board him, and take of for some destination, or none at all. This helped to keep my sanity.

Now that he is gone, of course, there is a sense of longing, yet, without feelings of guilt, there is a sense of relief. Relief that he no longer has to fight that struggle. Relief that I no longer have to help him with that struggle. Had I thought that there were a chance that he could have had an improvement in his life, I would have taken it, but, alas, that’s not what I thought, how I felt.

Now, it’s time for me to reshape my life, once again. I can resume those things that his illness made or difficult, or perhaps provided me an excuse not to do, such as my morning walks. Also, it’s been a great while since I’ve had a good round of early morning photography. Before, I’d always have to make sure that I was back home by about 8:00 AM to give him is food and injection. Further, I needed to be back by 4:30 for same. Then, as he was an older gentleman, he couldn’t hold it very long, thus constraining my day a bit further. Leaving him alone for more than 3 or 4 hours was not a good idea, more constraints.

That said, I did all of these things willingly and happily. Hey! That was my buddy. Now, it’s just different. I can take off at the spur of a moment and stay for as long as I like – the responsibility has shifted entirely to me. No excuses.

It was a fantastic, fulfilling, loving experience – now it’s time to explore, unbridled.

I was talking to a young lady and somehow we got onto the subject of hobbies, travel, etc. I told her of my adventures here and there and she was pretty impressed at all that I had done and am doing, though that was not the point of the narrative. When I mentioned that I don’t own a television and haven’t owned one for going on 5 years, she was somewhat stunned. At first, she thought that I was kidding, have a bit of fun at her expense. When I indicated that I was serious her question was:

If you don’t have a TV, then what do you do?

Given that I had spent about 5 solid minutes summarizing all of the stuff that I do such as traveling, writing a blog, photography, printing/hanging photos, looking at ideas to decorate my home, walking, read books, etc, I thought that that was clear. LOL Sure, you could do all of that stuff, I suppose, while still spending a bit of time in front on the tele, but it’s just my particular choice.

What’s more interesting, I thought, was that she was actually troubled by the fact that I didn’t own a television. Saying that was worrisome, or cause for concern. When I asked why, she said: Because everyone has a television, why don’t you? I said: I don’t find it interesting or that it adds value to my life. Period. To this, the simple answer was: Oh.

I have nothing against it, but it’s just not for me. When I go out of town, sometimes in the evening, if I am staying at a hotel, I’ll turn on the tube, but usually lose interest in about 10 minutes flat! Off goes the tube, out comes the book, or the iPhone with the Kindle reader on it.

It was rather interesting that not having a television could be an “issue” or cause for concern. Hmmm … There’s always a lot of talk about being unique, different, but I guess that when it comes right down to it, we all like to belong to one group or another, even if it is just part of a group that likes to watch television. Or perhaps it comes down to: If you don’t watch TV, what can we possibly have to talk about???

I have no experience in being a grandfather, but I do have experience in being a dad as well as a stepdad, but I never used the term “stepdad” as I wanted no distinction. I’m “dad” to both of my boys and they are both my boys, regardless of circumstance of birth.

This past week when Tony was visiting from college, we got a chance to discuss a few things. One of them was about credit, how to apply for it, how to take care of it, and why it’s important. My style of parenting, now, is that I don’t offer unsolicited advice. If you ask me, I’ll most certainly tell you, but if you don’t, carry on! Of course, unless I see a serious “train wreck” about to happen, other than that, I’m fully able to let them learn by experience.

I think of the number of things that Tony doesn’t know about computers, taxes, credit, cars, etc – and most of the knowledge that he has he got from me. That’s cool to be in a position to be able to dispense such info and see your child learn, grow, and even change their opinion about what you told them. Being a parent is sometimes very frustrating – until you realize what frustration is: Your particular angst about them not doing things the way that you want them to, not the way that they see fit. Sometimes it is very difficult to let go of those reigns.

However, I’ve found that there is a certain satisfaction, of a job well-done when he takes the reigns himself and makes good decisions. I hope that it is because I have added the proper and sufficient number of tools in his box so that he can chose the right tool for the job because of me and, sometimes, in spite of me!

I hear the term economic growth a lot. It’s an ever increasing pressure to get the economy to expand, increase jobs, increase output, buy/sell more stuff. It seems to be in every industry. Take my cell phone, for example, Verizon has this “new every two program”. I’ve had my iPhone now for about 2 years and, of course, now I”m getting the e-mails indicating that I can upgrade for $199 to a new iPhone 5, after all, I am two generations behind, but when I think about it, what am I missing? Now, my son’s phones barely last two years and they end up looking like they’re about 40 years old and have been dragged down the street several times!

OK – I’m missing 4G LTE, which is supposed to be faster than WiFi! Exactly what’s my hurry? In chatting with one of the representatives today, I found that my data usage topped at 160 MB in September of this year, other than that I use about 100 MB or less. I can hardly see how a 4G LTE phone would benefit, besides, my phone still looks pretty new and works quite well. I can’t see tossing it onto the pile and getting a new one, just because I can.

Mind you, I have been guilty of this with cameras, but am trying to be a more conscientious consumer and consume only when necessary, preferring instead to spend my money traveling and meeting new people.

I admire Cedric’s stance waste, if you will. Admittedly, I’m not there. If I had a busted camera, it would be on top of my list to get it repaired or replaced … using only camera phone simply wouldn’t do.

My mail box has been filling up with e-mails about the fantastic deals available on Black Friday. I won’t be participating. Years ago, I decided to curtail my Christmas spending to just the immediate family. This year, it will probably be just Tony and Debra. There’s so much waste going on that I just don’t feel good about adding to that. One very influential documentary that I watched a number of years ago was Affluenza. You can view it here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/affluenza/ It’s about an hour long.

Every once in a while, I go back to it and watch it, just as a reminder to stay conscious about my consumption. Frequently on my walks, I am amazed at the amount of “stuff” that people have crammed into their garages, some even having additional containers for more stuff. The storage business isn’t hurting either. I can understand buying and keeping so much stuff. Another good documentary to watch at this time of year is The Story of Stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8