Greenwich National Park, PEI
Posted on 04. May, 2009 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in Outdoors, Prince Edward Island
Greenwich National Park, PEI, is as good a place as any to talk about your future. The park extends 40 km from Cavendish to Dalvay, and includes 6 km along the western tip of the Greenwich Peninsula, along the north shore of Prince Edward Island.
We didn’t plan to spend the afternoon talking about the meaning of life. But when you’re walking on the beach on your 30th birthday (Cameron’s, not mine!) the meaning of life just can’t help but come up.
We took turns answering the question, “When you’re 90 years old and are looking back on your life, what do you want to see?”
If we all knew the answer to that question, then I suppose life decisions would be easy.
But the trouble is that we can all envision a thousand different paths–in our future or–as a 90-year-old–in our past. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be known for? How do you want to spend your time?
We’ve all met people who say, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to have seven children and be the best mother to my children. That’s what I’ve always wanted!” And we’ve all known people driven to become a professor or a doctor or a musician. They just know.
But what about the rest of us?
What about those of us who bumble along, find ourselves in one job or another, in one relationship or another…just “going with the flow.” People like us let these random chains of events guide our lives.
To some degree these chains of events guide us all and influence all of our decisions. It starts to get really mind-boggling when you stop to think about it. Where were you when you met your spouse? What if your parents hadn’t moved the family to XYZ? And on it goes. What if?
I am a bumbler.
I go with the flow, and the waves and rocks that wash over me make me who I am. And maybe that’s OK.
Maybe I don’t need to know where I want to go or what my destiny holds.
Maybe that’s my destiny. To be affected by those around me who know where they’re going.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
May 4th, 2009
PS: If anyone has happened to have graciously sent me an email over the past month, I am seriously behind on my personal email. I *will* respond anon!
Gary Gray
May 5th, 2009
Hi L-J and Cam
Wonderful pictures of the dunes at Greenwich! So Cam is 30, cool! What a great age not too young and not to old. The teens and the twenties have melted away and the base of the painting has been laid.
Now come two decades of fleshing it out so that the viewer really gets a sense of the depth and power of the work. Then the next two will provide the fine details that really give refined character as the eye may not see, but the mind perceives. The final two decades if they are granted are for mounting, framing and hanging in just the right location with the proper lighting to highlight the spirit of the work.
There is a saying that says that the day of one’s death is of more value than the day of one’s birth.
Obviously because the completed painting is of greater value than the blank canvas that one has to start with.
Take your time Cam and place each brush stroke with care. It is a life long work of art that will hang for all time.
Wishing you the very best,
Smiles :o)
Gary
Andy Collier
May 5th, 2009
Laine and I spent a night while house sitting for my folks talking about the meaning of life and distilled it down to:
“Shut up and be happy stupid!”
Andy Collier
May 5th, 2009
And Happy Birthday Cameron you young-un!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
May 5th, 2009
Wow, Gary, I like that analogy!! :))))))
Andy, thanks from Cam for the bday wishes. Shut up and be happy stupid, indeed! That’s what it all boils down to, doesn’t it?
Laine Brehaut
May 5th, 2009
Yep, I remember, we pretty much covered all the bases and then ended up there.. though I think it was just “Shut up and be happy”.. and I remember we giggled a lot too.
Nora
May 5th, 2009
You will find that you will regularly go through this conversation for years to come………..and you will probably come up with the same answers. Some people are planners and some people are not……….my husband and I are not. We are spur of the moment people and sometimes its fun and sometimes its not so much, we’ve been having this conversation for 27 years now…….still don’t have any answers.
eddie
May 5th, 2009
nice pictures but you shouldnt be walking on the dunes as they are very fragile
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
May 5th, 2009
Laine, I think it must be a conversation that leads to giggling. Because otherwise it’s just a little too deep and downright scary. I mean, we aren’t ever going to be that old, are we? No, no, we’ll stay young forever!
Nora. Sigh. Still no answers?? Bugger. I was really hoping that at some point it would become obvious!
Eddie, you are VERY RIGHT! We hopped on and hopped off and probably shouldn’t have. Point taken, Eddie. Thank you.
John Quimby
May 6th, 2009
Greetings from Memphis, TN – on the road to PEI.
Happy birthday Cam.
L-J I know exactly what you mean by asking yourself about that 90 year old.
self. Gary’s words are wonderfully written and I agree. I’m turning 50 this summer. My life didn’t get really good until I hit 40.
Further – you two are miles ahead just for being conscious of your lives and making choices at your age. Bumble along? I hardly think so. You made deliberate choices to be who you are and where you are.
When I tell people about the lives Susan and I have chosen, they say, “You’re so lucky.” Susan always says, “We’re not lucky. We made choices.” That’s what we do. Besides, as someone said, “You wanna hear God laugh? Tell him your plans”.
Kim
May 6th, 2009
My husband and I bumbled along (rather unhappily) until we made the decision to move to PEI. That was a concrete, conscious decision.
Now that we’re here, however, we’re back to bumbling along (very happily.) At this point, we’re just goin’ with the flow.
Our motto for life is, “Life’s too short to be miserable.”
Took a long time to learn that one.
“Further – you two are miles ahead just for being conscious of your lives and making choices at your age. Bumble along? I hardly think so. You made deliberate choices to be who you are and where you are.”
I agree with John on that one!
Great pics, btw!
warren
May 7th, 2009
Nothing too thought provoking here…but did Cameron get a haircut? Nice!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
May 8th, 2009
John, you’re on your way to PEI! Safe travels as you make your way here again. I agree with Susan when it comes to luck. Life is 5% luck and 95% planning. I do say that Cameron plans all this and I bumble along behind him, going “Are you sure? But…that’s crazy!”
There is a difference between good bumbling and bad bumbling. If you’re happy it doesn’t matter what you’re doing…
Warren – Yes, haircut! Cam’s haircuts warrant a blog post of their own. He has cut his own hair since he was, probably, 15 years old. I need to do the math to consider how much money he has saved over the years. Frugal living may involve a lack of hairdressers.
warren
May 12th, 2009
I cut my own hair for the money savings too…not related at all to my follicular challenges!
Nicole C-M
May 14th, 2009
Great post! I ask myself this question all of the time. Sometimes I don’t understand the point of all of this and I think to myself that there has to be a higher purpose someplace, somewhere that I am just not seeing/getting. I guess I just want to look back and know that I lived my life as full as I could with few regrets for the choices I make.