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I try and start the new year by buying a new pair of running shoes. Even though my running looks more like walking I have never liked the idea of walking shoes. I also sit down with myself and say “self, what ya got ta say for your bad self?”
We are on the precipice of a brand-new year. Is it not remarkable that we can renew ourselves on an annual basis and start from scratch revitalized and invigorated? With that said I would like to wish you all a fantastic new year and may you flourish and prosper each and every day. May your life be effortless and full of romance and charm. May you shed the stresses of life like a duck to water. Ever wonder where did that idiom came from?
Aside: “like a duck to water means to take to take to anything quickly and immediately, as if it were part of the routine, is to take to something like a duck to water. Like all other water birds, ducks are born on land but fledge into the water without needing to learn to swim. One could assume that the phrase “like a duck to water” has been used ever since people first noticed ducks swimming into water. The phrase began to appear in print in the early 1800s and gradually gained popularity in American English.” Source: theidioms.com.
I just want to give the new year a boost moments before it happens. It is not so much a celebration but a regeneration or a renewal of some sort. So here goes.
I try and start the new year by buying a new pair of running shoes. Even though my running looks more like walking I have never liked the idea of walking shoes. So, every year I get myself a new pair of running shoes and toddle on, my first step to a great year (excuse the pun).
I also sit down with myself and say “self, what ya got ta say for your bad self?” Sometimes this goes unanswered and sometimes there is a huge splurge of wordage concerning what I got right and what I got wrong.
To be honest, I really don’t care cuz I am reveling in the wonder of a new year and how much trouble I can get into with my words and how many tempers can I invoke or truly how can I put calm in a peaceful world. Truthfully, I have this deep-seated passion to make the world right and repair it as much as I can. I really don’t like to start up trouble but more calm ruffled feathers. This is something deep inside me, so I do watch what I post and what words I use. I am more of an untrouble maker than a troublemaker. Shrug! That’s just been my life for as long as I can remember.
My eldest daughter Amber tells me how much she loves this newsletter. She thinks of it as a one-sided discussion because we haven’t seen each other in years. I plan on rectifying that this coming year. It is more than just another resolution.
I appreciate those that read and love my words. I have been slogging away at the written word for so long. Sometimes it is a slog. And sometimes the words just flow effortlessly, and I am a happy writer and a happy poet. I love words and am quite passionate about them. More about that another time.
This OBS Post is getting out a bit late. We have been transforming our life and I am now a Jew in an RV. I really didn’t think that Jews belong in RVs, but I have proved myself wrong.
We sold our house and bought what is known as a fifth wheel RV. “The name actually comes from the company that first utilized the hitch in the early 1900s. The Martin’s Fifth Wheel Company named their device after the round shape of the hitch. Hence, the hitch itself is the “fifth wheel.” Before the introduction of the new kingpin, the device itself was in the shape of a wheel.” We are way out in the boonies about an hour from Tampa in a town called Webster. How appropriate for a poet in a town named for a dictionary. 🙂
One of our projects to get started this year is our Roving Foodies! We will be traveling to sustainable small businesses, farms especially, and interview the farmers and owners and Shelley the fabulous chef that she is, will whip up some foods from said farm. We will also interview other types of sustainable businesses like my favorite chocolatier in Tarpon Springs Ratza Chocolate. So, stay tuned for Roving Foodies coming to a YouTube channel near you!
This is my mantra for 2023:
Don’t take anything/anyone for granted,
not your friends,
not your family, not yourself,
not even your enemies!
Go forth and enjoy!
Lawrence George Jaffe
Lawrence George Jaffe is an internationally known and an award-winning writer, author, and poet. For his entire professional career, Jaffe has been using his art to promote human rights. He was the poet-in-residence at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, a featured poet in Chrysler’s Spirit in the Words poetry program, co-founder of Poets for Peace (now Poets without Borders) and helped spearhead the United Nations Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry project which incorporated hundreds of readings in hundreds of cities globally using the aesthetic power of poetry to bring understanding to the world.
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