“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”

― Jack London

I’ve had this hanging on my wall ever since I went to Sonoma for a weekend by myself. Family life had worn me down and I needed to find me again.  It was a wonderful weekend with the highlight being going to Jack London’s home and museum.  He lived a lot of life in his short time on earth.  John Barleycorn shortened his time here but his words still inspire me.

I feel I have become sleepy and permanent.  Maybe I am just getting older and slower.  I also think I have become cynical.  I’m too old for this or too old to start that or I won’t have enough time left to make that dream come true so why bother? I love to quilt   I’ll just do that forever.  It’s happy.  It’s safe.

So I leave my dreams behind   Or worse, I stop dreaming up new dreams.  What’s the point? If I haven’t time to make old dreams come true why frustrate myself with new ones?

I realize this day that John Barleycorn comes to shorten our lives in many disguises, not just alcohol.  He comes in depression, in cynicism, in grief, in fatigue, in anger.  He may not shorten it in months or years but shortens it in spirit.

It is time for me to remember what it felt like to have my life before me (and it still is!) and to make every atom of my being glow magnificently.