Happy Holidays, From the Mountains to the Seas

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Ever since I have been cognitive enough to think about stuff — anything — I have thought about the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving right through to my birthday, January 4, which I share with my youngest brother. Having a brother born exactly eight years younger, to the day, is like hitting that nearly impossible, almost miraculous, drive on a four-stroke fairway for a hole-in-one.

Ever since my 62^nd birthday I’ve thought this silent question, “Will I live long enough to see another Christmas and my birthday?”

You see, my father and oldest brother died before their 63^rd birthdays and my next older brother, born just 20 months before me, died at the age of 58. So, there hasn’t been any examples of longevity in my immediate family.

I came by this resulting philosophy from something I heard in a movie, to quote Chris Pratt as Josh Faraday in the 2016 version of The Magnificent Seven, “So far so good.”

To avoid another 1,000 word post about my health, here is what I’ve got going during this Holiday Season. I’ve been to  few area beaches to document the high surf. The large waves that fueled The Eddie Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii …

… have been hitting the West Coast. Those waves in Hawaii (Oahu and Maui)  hitting from 25-60 feet and here in San Diego County we were seeing waves slapping at the underside of the Ocean Beach Pier — and it isn’t even high tide.

For me, these are the best local holiday excursions: trips to the local beaches for big waves or just observing the grandeur of nature with all its beauty and wonder.

The Winter Solstice took place on December 21 so now the days are beginning to get longer. The Solstice is my winter holiday, that and New Year’s Day. Family and friends are still a top focus for me during the Holiday Season, but my happy holiday place is at one of the beaches that divide the Pacific Ocean from Southern California. Actually, It’s my happy place all year ‘round.

In one of my latest stays as an inpatient at the VAMC in La Jolla I began experimenting with the religion I grew up with — Catholicism. I enjoy some of the rituals, but not because they offer any connection to supernatural deities or spirituality, it’s nostalgia, plus, they are peaceful and fill me with some serenity. Hmmm, I guess there is a bit of a contradiction here. If I’m getting some serenity from those ancient Catholic rituals, then maybe they are spiritual for me.

Out here (below) that’s my church.

Interestingly enough, I felt that same spirituality while visiting Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado during the winter

For several years my meditative focus all year ’round has been all the people, places and things for which I’m grateful and the fullness and beauty of our world is on that list. So this morning, as I prepare for the day, which will include a nice prime rib dinner — Christmas is always a good time for feasting — I will meditate on everything and everyone that has brought me to this moment and this place — and that includes the folks who read this. Enjoy the Holidays.

One thing to note about this Christmas morning: one of our little pups, Chica, is laying in my bed behind me snoring.

Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Tim Forkes

Tim Forkes started as a writer on a small alternative newspaper in Milwaukee called the Crazy Shepherd. Writing about entertainment, he had the opportunity to speak with many people in show business, from the very famous to the people struggling to find an audience. In 1992 Tim moved to San Diego, CA and pursued other interests, but remained a freelance writer. Upon arrival in Southern California he was struck by how the elected government officials and business were so intertwined, far more so than he had witnessed in Wisconsin. His interest in entertainment began to wane and the business of politics took its place. He had always been interested in politics, his mother had been a Democratic Party official in Milwaukee, WI, so he sat down to dinner with many of Wisconsin’s greatest political names of the 20th Century: William Proxmire and Clem Zablocki chief among them. As a Marine Corps veteran, Tim has a great interest in veteran affairs, primarily as they relate to the men and women serving and their families. As far as Tim is concerned, the military-industrial complex has enough support. How the men and women who serve are treated is reprehensible, while in the military and especially once they become veterans. Tim would like to help change that.