I'm up at sunrise on this last day of summer. sigh
By this time tomorrow morning the sun will have reached the equator in its southward journey and it will be fall in the northern hemisphere. The equinox -- when there is equal night and day at the equator -- is different than the equilux -- when night and day are equal wherever you are. Tomorrow there will be 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight here in Highlandville MO. Our equilux, where there are 12 hours of both day and night won't occur until Wednesday.
While I may lament the beginning of fall, it isn't like this catches me by surprise or will change my life in any great way. It isn't like I have to build fires earlier or burn more oil in my lanterns. I'll just flip the lights on a little earlier in the evening. Living in rural Missouri doesn't have the active nightlife that life in a city might bring so the only real difference is more dark.
I know that more dark/less light does have an impact on many people. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can impact physical health as well as mental well-being. I am fortunate that I don't suffer from SAD in any profound ways, but by the midpoint of winter I am truly longing for spring and summer.
Enough with the stuff out of my control!
Something I do have control over is meeting with people. I do manage my people contact pretty well, maybe too well. I am trying to be more purposeful about that and have recently been adding occasional meetings with people. I've always sort of known that men have problems with friendships, but I am just realizing that it is more of a problem for quite a few guys.
"I don't really have any friends," is a lament I hear quite often.
Truthfully, I don't either, but I don't know that it's something to lament about. Sure, it would be nice to have a buddy to go watch the fights with, but I'm also okay with watching alone or skipping an event all together.
I do know a group of young men (40ish) that meet weekly and have developed good friendship bonds in doing so. I've been invited into the group and have gone a few times, but I'm pretty sure I'm more like the age of their dads. It's cool, but the relationships they have between one another is much more organic than one they might have with me.
The thing about this group is that it is quite purposeful. Maybe that's something my generation never really learned. So I'm learning from these young guys.
I doubt that I'm going to ever host a weekly fire pit gathering, but if I meet with a few different men for an occasional coffee/breakfast/lunch/beer/cigar that might be a good thing for me and for them.
I already have a coffee connection for this coming week, so I should be good for the rest of the month. I'll start working on October later.
John
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A very thoughtful post. I think you're doing a good job. It's good to be content at home, we mostly are and my husband has one friend. He sees infrequently. But he is content. I get out a bit more for Coffee with a friend.
ReplyDelete'I'm more like the age of their dads. It's cool, but the relationships they have between one another is much more organic than one they might have with me." This is one of the challenging parts of getting older. There is a gulf between us and much younger people. I was just discussing this with a 16-year-old. I'm very fond of him. We are great friends. But we are no longer really speaking the same language. So I try to be useful and supportive. Thanks for sharing! Aloha