Ours has been an adversarial relationship, at best. For nearly thirty years, we have depended on each other while poking the bear – you with your interminably irregular rhythms, me with the occasional Skyline Chili 3-Way lunches. I have begged, pleaded, and demanded that you step in line and behave, but you, not unlike your host, march to your own beat.
You’ve tried to take me down. I’ve fought back. I’ve tried to care for you. You still misbehave. How much longer can we go on like this?
Astronomically, the new year is rather insignificant. But as creatures of guilt and blame we designate January 1 as an annual reboot of life’s priorities. Where we failed in previous months, we search for renewed discipline in the days ahead. And so it is time to reconsider the beef we have carried for these past decades.
Isn’t it better to work together, to offer support to one another toward a common objective? We both know it’s impossible to recapture the magic we once shared in our carefree youth, but we can spend our remaining days coalesced around a dual goal of living as long as we possibly can and squeezing the life out of each day that comes.
And so as we begin 2017, I pledge to you – my silly, irrepressibly erratic heart – that I will no longer use adjectives like stupid, ridiculous, lousy, annoying, freakin’, damned, and dumbass in reference to you. I will continue to improve my diet, with which I have made great strides in recent years. Pudge and I will walk more, I’ll strive to practice daily meditation, and I will search for inner peace in a world of antagonistic distractions.
Heart health is too easily overlooked. Many simply assume that today will be as yesterday and tomorrow as today. But the beat, as sweet as it is, will eventually come to an end. Until then, I will take care of you. We cannot be fully alive when there is an adversary within. It’s time to make peace. We’re in this together.
