For any society that uses the Gregorian calendar the new year begins around the first of January. Lately I’ve looked at my birthday as the start of my new year. Hence, two things in my reflections on my new year. First, my horoscope from The Washington Post (Yes, I know it’s syndicated; yes, I know there are a million horoscopes out there. This is my hometown paper.)
Today’s Birthday, Aug. 21: This is your year to break unwanted patterns and create new, beautiful habits in their place. You receive many attractive propositions through the fall, starting with one in the next three weeks. November brings financial results. Reinvest in your talent. Weddings are big July events [OK, this must be for someone else who has my birthday; I don’t do weddings]. Your connections with Aries and Scorpio people nurture your intellect.
My second reflection is a small parable my friend S. shared with me and our friend J. over drinks last Friday. S. picked this little story up in his two semesters abroad in Spain during college. I will butcher this but the meaning should come through.
A business man from Barcelona rents a small villa at the beach every year to vacation with his wife and young son. One evening they’re strolling along the beach and they meet up with another family, also a man, his wife, and their young son.
The kids get to playing and the wives get to talking and so the business man ends up in conversation with this other man.
“What do you do?” the stranger asks.
“I’m a business man. I live and work in Barcelona. We’re here on vacation. I’m really just trying to relax and get away from it all. And you?”
“Oh, I’m a fisherman. We live in the villa just across from you.”
The man from Barcelona nods; he thought the fisherman looked familiar. “How is that, being a fisherman?”
The fisherman smiles. “I get up early. I fish all day. I come home. I play with my son while my wife fixes dinner. Then the three of us eat a nice meal. We put the boy to bed and after he’s asleep we drink wine and dance across the sand in the moonlight. What do you do in Barcelona?”
“I work in an office. I don’t see my wife nearly enough. I never get to spend any time with my son. So, we come here twice a year for a week. Like I said, I’m just trying to relax and get away from it all.”
They walk for a little bit and then the fisherman asks, “So, why do you work so hard in Barcelona?”
“Well,” the man replies, “eventually I want to earn enough money to retire to a place like this. There are just so many things that need to be taken care of before I can though.”
“But what is it you really want?” the fisherman persists.
The man from Barcelona looks at his son playing with the fisherman’s boy in the surf, and he looks at where his beautiful wife is strolling along in front of him deep in conversation with the fisherman’s equally beautiful wife. “I want to be able to spend time with my family, to play with my son and dance across the sand in the moonlight with my wife after we’ve had a good bottle of wine. That’s why I need to work so hard.”
The fisherman just shakes his head as he says, “But friend, I am doing all that now. Why wait?”
Since I’m about to go on a little vacation and will be away from the computer for 5 very fabulous days I have closed comments on this entry. If you want to send me a note about it you can send it to the address below.
