What is the Purpose of Life?

I have been thinking about life over the past few days. More than usual.

I am approaching my 50th birthday, and my health is not at its best. Beside that, though, I have pretty much everything that most people seem to be aiming for.

• I have a stable job that pays well and that I enjoy doing
• I have a few close friends who make me laugh, provide a safety net for me, and who I care for and about.
• My weight is really the only health problem I have, with most of my other issues (which are admittedly minor) stemming from it. My vision is good, my hearing passes, and I have full mobility.
• I have a home that needs work, but successfully keeps my family and I warm and dry. More than this, it is actually unusually large property for the area. Finally it is my grandfather's home.
• I have important books overflowing my bookshelves, music that would fill days to listen to, and enough access to information and entertainment to fill several lifetimes.
• MOST importantly, I have a partner, wife, best friend who walks alongside, and frequently supports me. My children are wonderful people in their own right, my brothers both talk to me, and I get along very well with my in-laws. Family is great.

So what is my problem? Having all of these things in my life, how can I not be satisfied? How can I not be happy?

That is just it. I am satisfied! I am very happy! I am grateful on a daily basis, and I take the time to express my love and gratitude to all who need to hear it.

But I still wonder... what of it. It won't last, it will change. I know that, and I accept it. I know that death is real, and close and personal, and so I prepare myself for it as best I can. But I don't fear it. There would be no point.

The old Roman cry of "Eat, drink and be merry! For tomorrow we die!" rings hollow in my ears. True, we die, but we also live. And while we are alive... we must LIVE.

So. That is the question. What IS the purpose/aim/goal/meaning of life?

I plan to continue exploring this question in the following blog posts.

The Longest Night

We capped the weekend off with our traditional Longest Night family gathering. The tradition is simple. Get together as close to the solstice as possible, have fun, give out PJs, housecoats, slippers, or anything that has to do with sleeping. Then have more fun. So this year we gathered for a wonderful dinner. I had picked up Pam's mum earlier in the day. Josh, Lin's bf, was in attendance, as was Derrick, Em's bf and his two year old son, Nathaniel. We had a huge roast chicken diner, with fixings galore, then retired to the living room for egg nog and the traditional handing out of PJs. Those who wanted to put them on (Josh wearing his for most of the holidays!) and we went back into the kitchen for a game of cards. All in all a great night, fun was had by all.

If I Could Keep Time in a Bottle...

I would probably drink it right about now. Yesterday, between various work bits, I transfered the Rune Poem to audio so I can practice it for tonight. I will still probably have to have a cheat sheet, but I want it to flow well. We picked up some Yule stuff, and the gifts for our Saturnalia. My department also had it's party, and they had a Roman theme, so I yoinked all of the togas (really just a cloth ribbon that hangs across one shoulder) for the rite on Saturday.

Despite the crazy buzyness that was last night, we got up early enough this morning to do 'Mikey D's' for breakfast! Everyone had homemade Sausage/Egg/Cheese on an English Muffin (whole wheat for a slight nod to health) and some hash brown patties. Pretty much everyone sat around the table having a nice start to their day. Derrick ever showed up, but made the mistake of lying down before breakfast and was out like a light.

So the weekend looks incredibly full and there is still much to do.

Little Brothers Rock!

Yesterday was a good day, as many of them are in my very charmed life. During lunch I continued to work on the Rune Poem, with a lot of help for Arthur Shipkowski (MA for ADF). I combined the three extant Rune Poems (Icelandic, Norwegian & Anglo-Saxon) and made some adjustments to the underlying Anglo-Saxon. It was fun. Thanks Art. Also, Julie provided the final script for Friday's ritual, and it looks great!

Second on the list, Erik from the College of Stoic Philosophers (and the New Stoa) responded to my assignment and proceeded to send the next one (on Sellars' book 'Stoicism')! But in the interest of the holidays, he gave me an additional week to get it done. More fun, but since I have already done quite a bit of work on Sellars, at least this first assignment should be easy.

André was over last night to help me work on the hallway floor. Thanks to him, we were able to get quite a bit finished! The best part of the night was when he looked at what I had accomplished already and said, "You did all this in two nights? That is incredible! This is freaking hard work!" We spent the balance of the evening (with short breaks for dinner, Christmas cookies, and picking up loved ones) ripping, cutting, marking, laying, slapping, smacking, sweating, cursing, re-marking, re-cutting, re-cursing, and in the end achieved a work of art! Still needs to be finished, and with the accumulation of responsibilities over the next several days, the completed floor may end up being more delayed than I would like, but we will be plugging away at it.

Pam has been getting the Saturnalia ritual ready for Saturday (How appropriate!) It is looking great too. We have some elements to pick up tonight while we are out for Lin's NATS rehearsal (see above regarding accumulating responsibilities).

Finally, one of those moments occurred last night. You know, the moments that lasting memories are made of. While André and I were working away at the floor, Pam decided that she was going make Christmas cookies with Katie (pictured here) who was also there (as was Bill, who had gone to hang out with Josh and Derrick). They measured and mixed and blended and baked away happily as they chatted away, making small talk. Katie kept tasting the frosting while they waited for the dough to chill. When the dough was ready, Bill came up and helped them cut the cookies into shape. A few short baking minutes later and the cookies were ready. Pam called out to everyone in the house (André was gone to get Chantal at this point) and in moments the table was surrounded with laughter and sprinkles and frosting. Everyone was into it, including Derrick and Josh! As soon as Emilie found out (she was at work) she asked to be picked up so she could join in the fun. At that point, everyone stopped, mid-cookie as it were, and the fun resumed unabated when she joined the table. We have pictures, and a little video. The cookies will likely only last a few days. But, because Pam was open to an opportunity, we also have a wonderful memory, as do the kids. Thanks, my love, for making life flavourful.