Today’s dram: Maker’s Mark
Today’s tasting notes: This is an old favorite. A classic for a reason. Well made to the same standard for better than a century. Good, warm, just enough bite.
Bourbon is an American creation. Today, it’s a reminder to me. Of home, when I’m away from it. And of the good things there that make it worth going back to.
Mostly that’s people, of course. Family. Friends. Friends who are like family.
But also ideals. Liberty. Equality.
We may fail, often, and years like 2017 may make us question the strength of our society and its commitment to those ideals, but we endure.
Today’s thoughts: Privilege. I acknowledge it. From a beach in another country, together with like-minded friends, I prepare to watch a new year roll in, and I know, within a reasonable margin of error, I’ll be fine in the coming year.
I didn’t feel this way as this year began. I felt quite a lot of trepidation, in truth. And 2017 has not been a year to be proud of, as an American.
Or, bluntly, for me as a writer, as someone who feels compelled to speak up, speak out, but all too often fails, allowing inertia, apathy, and whisky to prevail in place of the long, difficult slog that is activism.
Will 2018 be better?
I don’t know.
But as I sit on a tropical beach, miles away from responsibility and stress, I still find my thoughts turning toward all the things I could have said and done better this year, and I’m not ready to leave off just yet.
Today’s observation on the weather: It rained pretty hard for a couple of hours today, eventually driving most everyone away from the beach, and throwing kinks into the evening plans of locals and tourists alike.
That happens, even in tropical paradise.
But now it’s clearing, and the sun’s gone down, and plans will be re-configured, or new ones made.
Time will roll on, weather and human perceptions of its passage notwithstanding.
Today’s toast: To tomorrow. Always tomorrow.
lastgreypoet 