Passions in my life seem to come and go, but a few stick around almost forever. Twenty years ago, I was passionate about learning more about the origins and history of Christianity. That passion subsided about ten years later, with a major disappointment in how most of the churches today have veered away from the teachings of Jesus.
As soon as I graduated from college and could afford it, I bought my first 35 mm camera and became passionate about taking pictures, particularly of the historic places I would visit. That one has been diminishing lately because no one seems interested in American history anymore. Another reason is because of all the apps out there now that can easily morph a photo into something it totally isn’t (i.e. – Fake Fotos).
Traveling is a passion that I have had, but now that I am in my mid-70s, I know that I probably won’t be able to pursue it much longer. At least, the road trips I most enjoy.
For 11 years, I was passionate about helping the financially challenged in my area. I volunteered more hours than I can count helping prepare and serve meals in a soup kitchen. Those were some of the happiest times of my life. But, when my aging body could no longer take the hours of standing on concrete, that one ended.
Blogging has been in my blood for thirteen years now, and I will likely die of arteries clogged with words waiting to be put in a tomorrow’s post.
And Then The Simpler Things
It seems I am now pretty restricted to simpler things for my passions. One of those is my morning shower. I literally spend at least a half hour letting the water stream over my back. One reason for that is it soothes my numerous back compression fractures. The other, which is certainly the most important reason, is that my mind is bombarded with creative thoughts and ideas. Most of my blog posts here at RJsCorner start out in the morning shower. 😎
Another of the simpler passions is working 500 and 1,000-piece picture puzzles. This passion is for almost the opposite reason from the above one. In the last five months due to my wife’s illness and death, my brain has been running in an unsustainable overdrive. I can’t shut it off for more than a few minutes at a time. The only time that I can get it to slow down is when I am working picture puzzles. The world and all my thoughts about it just seem to melt away when I look at all those pieces that need to find a home in the current puzzle. Maybe this is my Zen period of meditation. Whatever it is, it calms my life like nothing else seems to be able to do right now.
So, blogging, showers, and picture puzzles seem to be my passions now. I will soon be leading a weekly get-together at my retirement community around helping my fellow residents cope with hearing loss and have some fun learning some simple sign language stuff. Maybe I will add that to my list of passions soon?
RJ's Corner 
Wow, I’m impressed that you’ve immediately thought of a way you can contribute to others and are implementing your idea. How helpful that will be. I know that my two daughters, both in their 40’s and falling prey to the inherited type of hearing loss that I have, are loathe to go down the paths of wearing hearing aids. One, who also is easily overwhelmed by sensory overload, tried hearing aids but doesn’t like the increased hearing acuity when she’s wearing them. She prefers her quieter world and feels overwhelmed by sound when she’s wearing them. The other surprises me with her reluctance because her daughter, my granddaughter, is profoundly deaf, but with cochlear implants. (I understand that’s a touchy subject.) I, on the other hand, grew tired of having my husband have to make calls for me or standing on the edges of conversations, with an assumed mild look on my face that I hoped looked interested, at least, watching for clues as to when I should laugh, etc. I have other disabilities that make me somewhat dependent on him to drive me places or assume household tasks I once loved doing, so I needed to take back independence where I could. I imagine there are many in the older community who also approach increasing hearing difficulties from different perspectives.
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It sounds like we have a lot in common, Linda. My wife was already in menopause when we were married, so didn’t have any children. In some ways, I was glad because I didn’t pass my deafness on to kids. I can certainly understand your daughter, who can’t stand all the background noise. Older hearing aid were never very good a suppressing that. I couldn’t stand all that noise either, but got good at just turning down my hearing aid and pretending to hear. 😎 Watching for clues for when to laugh; I thought I was the only one who did that. Thanks for telling me otherwise.
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