Living in the Ivory Tower

I have liv’d long enough: my way of life
Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.

William Shakespeare, Macbeath, Act 5, Scene 3

Now this I have to say is an unorthodox week! And a very heartening one at that! As I scan my MacBook Pro calendar for the upcoming week I see for the first time in a very long while nothing more disquieting than a luncheon date with my beloved sister tomorrow and a visit from our cleaning lady on Thursday.  And that pretty much captures the unhurried routine for the remainder of the summer.

As wont as I am to condemn those who clamour about their ineffable lives, I can’t frankly imagine a more preferable circumstance than this. The utter lack of necessity is an incalculable luxury!  For me it is the stuff of dreams (and certainly an agreeable variation on the former rigid demands of employment). The fairy tale nature of my existence is heightened by the top-storey prospect of our apartment. I am able to glimpse the open fields to the southwest where cattle regularly graze.  Our turret is a utilitarian compound of rooms of which every particle is precious to me.  It is compact and exquisite!

While it might be asserted that I am figuratively confined to the constraints of my own mind (which I admit is a very real possibility) I have the relieving advantage of knowing that travel is on the horizon. This enthralling prospect affords me the pleasure of anticipation and the promise of an enlarging experience.

The gallivant will further entail movement in an automobile which for me is infinitely more appealing than being poured into an aircraft seat (and left to “set”) or even restricted to strolling in circles upon the decks of a ship.  It lubricates the adventure that we should  have a new vehicle in which to do it.

I wonder that I am so pliable.  If I were to compare what we’re doing today with what we had planned to do five months ago there is little resemblance. To our everlasting credit we have suffered no reluctance whatsoever in making the alteration. Our design was not to be inert. I like to think that we have risen to the occasion so to speak, to address what needed to be done. The corollary to having done so is that we haven’t any regret.  In fact the modification is more a reward than an imposition or an abuse, all part of the current state of euphoria.

There are so few times in life when its constancy and elation virtually blare at you. Even if I cannot at the moment predict a discernible hiccup it is nonetheless certifiable that eventually my luck will change and we’ll plummet from the skies to the basement, from the ivory tower to the sere and yellow leaf of old age.