Taking A Risk

Mark and Sara (Go Blue – NYPD Rocks!) gave me a few very cool gifts this Christmas – an awesome Central Park Pct sweatshirt and some awesome incense and burner – but the above screen art they sent me was truly inspirational. Lisa found the perfect spot for it, my office bathroom.

You see, it has that bit of obvious visual humor – and Ass on the toilet, which at Casa Claire has instant appeal – but then there is the message – “Live Like Someone Left The Gate Open.” I’m not sure that 6 decades in the Bronx would have allowed me to fully understand that on the first bounce.

Those fine, five readers who have been following along since the outset of my blogging in 2021, may recall blogs recounting times when Claire and Honey have gotten lose and done a walk about in the Berthoud area.

I’ve also chronicled assisting in the wrangling of some of my neighbors equines. It looks a lot easier in the movies.

And it all invariably starts with Claire taking advantage of someone leaving a gate unlocked.

As the eternal caretaker at Casa Claire, there was nothing more alarming than glancing out a window and seeing the ass end of my charges scurrying out of the driveway and hooking a left towards the comparatively busy and dangerous County Road 23.

And although mules tend not to display their running speed every day the way some horses will, mules can kick it into high gear with no lead time. Ratchet it up right into afterburner mode. They can sprint with Seabiscuit.

Personally, if this was the time where we were all transported on horseback and not on speeding cars and trucks, I would probably let them walk about at anytime, knowing that they would never leave Casa Claire for good. After all, Claire knows a good thing when she sees it. And this is the most magical place in the Universe.

However, the world is a dangerous place, and when people are always in a hurry, accidents can happen.

I know that even with the 24/7/365 run of the entire property, Claire is not truly free.

Even when living at Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione and Ron longed to experience the outside world. To see if their magic could carry the day.

So do we all.

Life is not worth living without real experience. All the moot court training in Law School will never provide the adrenaline rush you get the first time you are sitting at the counsel’s table in the courtroom and the Court clerk steps out of a doorway and calls out “All rise!”

And I can tell you without qualification that there was nothing more frightening or more exhilarating then the time I pitched myself out the portal of a plane at 14,000 feet when I went skydiving with Lenny.

And despite what may be available on the Internet, I’ve heard the rumors, nothing beats real sex. Full stop.

But you don’t get to experience real life if you stay in a protected bubble. You have to step through that open gate and take those risks. Go beyond your comfort zone.

Sometimes you win and sometimes not. But if you are smart, you always learn something.

Leaving New York was scary as shit. The five boroughs were my large paddock. I knew my way around. I was comfortable. Beyond the city limits lay monsters.

But if I didn’t clench and cup and step through the geographic gate and head west almost eight years ago, I never would have met Claire. I would never have experienced my true passion of writing.

What that very cute sign sitting above my toilet reminds me every time I use the rest room, which at my age is more often than I would like, is that life will always be incomplete if you don’t take the risk of living it.

So, my fine, five readers, listen to the ass on the toilet, or the one typing this blog. No matter how old you are, if you see an opening in the gate, slip through it and see what’s out there. Take the risk. Live.

Now I was supposed to drive up through the mountains this morning to visit my daughter, her husband and my grandson, Lucian (whose now grown character is one of the stars of the action-packed Where The Ley Lines Meet), who are on their annual winter snowboarding holiday in Breckenridge. But a freak snowstorm has rendered the mountain highway 1-70 more treacherous than I want to drive through (hate going into the mountains), so we are postponing it until later in the week. But I will go through that gate before the new year, because who at my age misses an opportunity to hang with your grandkids.

But until then, I have kitties to cuddle and rounds to make.

I hope you fine, five readers have taken this week off and are doing fun things to wrap up 2023.

And whatever gates we walk through today, let’s make it a great one.