Predicting Good Things

We are having the most incredible month of November so far here in Calgary. Today was another warm, sunny day. Clear skies of powder blue reached endlessly to some far and distant horizon, wisps of cotton batten clouds slowly sliding forever eastwards, pushed by the unseen gentle winds higher in the sky. Here below the breezes remind me of being onboard ship, sailing the open waters of Georgia Strait, a light westerly running down, having been squeezed through the channels and passes of the Discovery Islands.

This will end, all too soon. This is, of course, southwest Alberta, an area known for its rapid changes in weather. Already the days have started to cool and the nights flitter against the freezing mark. Next week the forecast calls for snow; even the daytime temperatures will be near zero. It teaches us to enjoy today's weather, never knowing for certain what tomorrow will bring.

My life is like this too. I have no certainty about tomorrow, let alone a few weeks or months from now. I am compelled by circumstance and position to enjoy today. This is a good thing, this learning to live for the moment, to live for right now. It may not be ALS that takes me. I could get hit by a car while crossing the street in my wheelchair. I might have a heart attack tonight in my sleep.

This doesn't free me from thinking about tomorrow. I looked at the weather forecast for next week; I must be thinking about it. But I don't know for sure if that forecast is accurate. I had a weather forecaster say to me once that he could usually get the next few days right and after that it was a bit of a crap shoot. So why not predict nice whether whenever possible?

If I'm going to worry about tomorrow, why not predict good things? There is enough going on with my body to give me plenty of bad things to worry about. I can worry about losing my strength, my mobility, my breathing. I can live in fear of losing my independence, even my home. Those things might happen; some of them will most certainly happen. But like that weather forecaster, everything after next week is a bit of a crap shoot. I might as well predict good things whenever I can.