One of the reasons that I love our big tabby cat, Goose, is that he always has a look of wonder. We could learn a few things from Goose. A few times over the years I have forgotten to be pleasantly surprised at whatever has happened, but not often.
After I went away to military high school in Tennessee in 1963, I figured out within the first three months that I could either be unhappy with what was happening in my life or I could be wonderously surprised at whatever happens next because it is often an unknown piece of the puzzle that turns out to be my life.
When I got in my car to go office to college in the fall of 1967, I left with a sense of adventure which included a promise to myself to try new things especially if they forced me to step out of my box. The Vietnam war was raging during my college years and for a while it looked like I might become a foot soldier in it. Instead once I graduated and figured out that I wasn’t going to be drafted, I immigrated to Canada.
That as you might expect was a huge decision but like many decisions in the days before the Internet, not a lot of research went into it. I was in love with Nova Scotia. The beauty and wonder of the place wrapped itself around my mind. Before I got married, I came to know loneliness tempered by two wonderful Labrador retrievers. Even in a place as scenic as Nova Scotia, human companionship keeps us sane. Marriage to a North Carolina girl was another moment that surprised me and left me thinking that I was living under a special star that helped me find such a wonderful wife and partner in life.
There were plenty other moments of wonder. After dispersing our cattle herd, somehow I made the transitiion to working with Apple Computer. From shoveling manure to selling Macintoshes has to be an epic career switch. Twenty years later when Apple pushed me away from the company, several people encouraged me to think about my next career as finding something that would excite me for the next fifteen years. It took a while, but I ended up helping communitieis build fiber networks. Along the way, I learned how to take a skiff out into the Atlantic Ocean and how to kayak a two-mile wide river. I also spent a few years rescuing an HOA from itself. I learned that I was tougher than even I thought.
I always welcomed the next challenge never doubting my ability to do a good job and always approaching a new challenge with a sense of wonder. That doesn’t mean I did not have any worries. There were many sleepness nights during my HOA time. I would always wake early when I was taking someone new in our skiff out into the Atlantic. It was a big responsibility.
I recently got a new heart valve by way of a TAVR procedure. While I was afraid, I never waivered. I am still working through a few medical issues but I face them with a sense of wonder that something so complex can be done without cutting me open.
I have been surprised by people all my life from the British doctor and his wife who became great friends to some of the very interesting people that I met Harvard who are still close friends. As Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye might appreciate, I have met a few phonies along the way who pretend to be good people but care only for themselves in the end. I am happy that I have only run into a handful.
I continue to be amazed by people that we have found along the way. From the young Davie County farm family working on the same farm that has been in their family for over one hundred years to the New Brunswick farm couple in their sixties still haying and keeping work horses, the commitment and energy of people continue to impress me.
I also amazed by the young adults finding their way through this increasingly complex world. That they can keep moving forward when most of the cards are stacked against them renews my sense of wonder. Then there is my adult son who rose up to start doing many of the things that I was doing before my heart valve problem. I am back to driving and hope to to return to gardening but I definitely have a feeling of wonder seeing my son plant flowers. If that can happen, I think we will be able to push back on the anti-democracy forces trying to destroy our country. That of course would lead me to an immense feeling of relief.
Update- Spring of 2026, I managed to help clean the garden up for spring planting. Now if I can just find an accessible place where I can use by fly rod for a little fishing.
Our technological infirmity 