How have you fared lately in this latest trial of our time?
Crisis have a way of interrupting our normal routine. I don’t know about you but it certainly disrupted mine. You see, my latest endeavor besides writing and doing living history, has been conducting Foodie Tours. There’s not much of a market for that as of lately.
Our touring business, Great Tasting Tours came about during one of our last occurrences of life-changing events – me leaving a position I thought could have been a very active historical preservation effort in my local community and my wife loosing her job almost simultaneously. It was almost like living that line from the movie Forest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” You can’t ask for better timing, eh?
There we were in trying to make a living and the expression, ‘working in Florida is like living in a Tropical Depression’ also came to mind. We fought off the frustration and fear that wanted to consume us, sat back, looked around us and thought. All around us was natural Florida and history. I had bunches of historical knowledge and she had all kinds of business and marketing experience so, we took the lemons we’d been dealt and decided to make lemonade. That’s how our touring business Great Tasting Tours happened. Why I am relating all of this?
I mentioned all of that because, 157-days ago the impact of the COVID-19 pretty much shut our business down. With the shops, bars and restaurants in the town we gave our tours in getting closed or drastically restricted in visitation there was little or no ability to conduct any tours. Businesses not open = No Tours. Once again, we found ourselves facing another life-changing event. This is the place where we all need to close our eyes and take a long, deep, cleansing breathe.
“The world will continue to turn on its axis”.
Those words of my father which he said to me at times when a younger, impatient me fretted over the things I saw in the world and couldn’t immediately change come to me. He was right. There are lots of things we can’t change beyond our own personal reach. Collectively though, we have a part in effecting change. Together, we can do what we can to continue.
That I know is true. I see examples of it in nature almost daily to remind me. One of them is a White Ibis I named Limpy. Limby first appeared in my front yard, along with a group of other young Ibis more than 2-years ago. He had brown plumage and a club right foot that hung loosely as he awkwardly hopped about trying to keep up with the other foraging birds. Our hearts were pained to see him hobbling because we knew the odds of such a young bird surviving the rigors of daily life weren’t high. Limpy however, has been a living reminder to us of how wonderful life can be.
Today, I still see Limpy on occasion in my yard and during my daily walks. He’s now a mature adult decked in white feathers as he ambles along with his flock. Limpy has defied the odds and no doubt sired offspring. Researching, I find that Limpy could live up to ripe age of 20. That simple bird inspires me to go on.
We may not know what the day will bring. We really have no guarantee of tomorrow, but the joy the wonder of this world can give us can provide us hope and calm as we continue.
Life Outside The Window 