Sometime inspiration hits. And when it does, I’m smiling and loving life. I feel it is starting to return a bit today. I got out and took some shots yesterday for the first time in 3 days.

The last couple days I’ve been down a bit. Missing people around this time of year is always painful. A family pet is ill and not getting better so that weighs heavily on me and it’s not even my personal pet. But I do love her so much.

This past Thursday I completed my first year of retirement. NO, it went way too fast. I didn’t get all the things I hoped to do done. NO, it can’t be a year already.

It’s really it’s been great and I’ve enjoyed just about every day. I hope I’m given a few more years to have some fun. With that comes accepting some other things though.

I’m starting to feel the rest of my days are going to be filled with highs and lows and not much in between. Either I’m going to be trying to stay very positive, enlightened, working, loving, smiling and laughing if possible. For other days, it will be filled with loss or the gradual effects of aging which will either take mental or physical abilities away from me.

Now I’m planning on that last part and learning to adapt already. I’m taking steps to stay mentally challenged each day. Physically I’m trying to stay limber and flexible with some strength. I need more cardio exercise but I’m in the best shape in decades, so I just have to keep active now.

I thought about that as I was stepping over a guardrail and hiking down to the water to get a shot of a bridge I saw yesterday. It’s something I love to do. It’s something I’m a lot more careful about now. Just like stairs, you won’t catch me fast stepping or leaps or trying to sample what I warmed up in the microwave, on the way to the basement. I’ve had some friends take bad falls on steps and it’s made an impression on me.

The trick is challenging myself but being smart about it.