What's a vagary?

Something that doesn't seem to follow a proscribed pattern or path, such as life to this point.

There is no such thing as a straight, narrow and easy way through life. A more apt description of my path at least would bring back memories of old roller coasters, two in particular. First the Virginia Reel, where some genius created a round car that spun in circles as it careened up and down the track at break neck speed and secondly, the Wild Mouse, where an individual car for two ran madly around a narrow gauge track trying to flip you out into the world at high speed. 

When I entered the Navy at age seventeen it was because there did not appear to a future in front of me. Of course now I am seventy-one and the same logic applies. There isn't a twist or a turn along the way that doesn't remind me of those old "coasters" or was any more comfortable or any more direct. But, here I am now thousands of miles from where I live, which in turn is thousands of miles from where I grew up and thousands of miles from my birthplace. Roots? Perhaps not, wonderful memories regardless. 

So for me a GPS is simply a gizmo with an atlas crunched onto a silicon chip and a voice to tell me where to go. Not the first to try and tell me where to go, but my reaction to them has always been, "if you know the way, you lead...I'm turning here!" In one week a stewardess will have the dubious pleasure of showing me my seat as I once more leave Rome to return stateside. I am never at my best on those days, but at least I am quiet Dougie. 

Then, like the new year, I'll start anew, another path and another wait until I write the next yearly episode of this adventure. I must give thanks that money is not my driving force, because obviously my prayers were answered. 

The "driven ones" are the ones I feel saddest about, perhaps even pity, because what they want, desire and seek is unattainable...more. More of this, more of that...just more. Once they get more, they want more. It's a self-perpetuating panic driven dream. What about people, after all, you are here because of them and without them you can't even gloat!

Off for the next turn on my own "Wild Reel" of a ride...ciao!