ADVENT 2023

ARRIVING

Advent is two-thirds of adventure, the other third being the suffix ure. an abstract-noun suffix of action, and result, occurring in words from French and Latin: pressure; legislature.  In the world of medicine, we have procedures, and established ways of doing something.

My life has been a big adventure and a series of little adventures. And yes, the sum is greater than the whole and some ended in a hole, to be left there, buried and forgotten. Others are treasured memories, keepsakes I call them, remembering people, their names, faces and places, experiences, and events in my long calendar of time.

Advent suggests we’re going or getting somewhere, that something’s coming and that we have time to prepare.  Within the Christian tradition, it is the historic four-week period before celebrating Christmas.  As with many pagan celebrations, Christianity adopted much of this ceremony from the Winter Solstice, signaling the return of light in the seasonal calendar.  Christmas is always about the lights and Jesus was referred to in Scriptures as the Light of the World.  We see how that’s worked out, not so well, although some still proclaim that as an eternal hope, that people will see the light that shines in the darkness.  God knows we’ve had enough darkness to last a lifetime.  I am also the beneficiary of being enlightened from time to time.

My life has been and continues to include preparation and a state of readiness and it is more than that or is it?  I have been arriving and preparing and now I am here.  If I am always getting ready for what’s next, I may miss being here now rather than immersing myself in the present.

Here, in the present, is in Rancho Los Labradores in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  I am also preparing and planning for a couple of trips, a short one back to the U.S. and a longer one to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago.  If neither of those materialize, it’s ok and if they both do, that’s a bonus and I will celebrate accordingly.

“Arriving now on Track # 4, the Southwest Chief.”   Imagine all those moments along that 2,265 mile adventure of rail travel.  All I can say is that while a scenic and wonderful trip, it has lost some of its original charm and service.  One of my favorite stops, more recently visited on land, is Winslow, Arizona and La Posada Hotel. If I were to list some travel adventures those near the top would include places in Europe, the Maritimes, and a variety of other places in the U.S. Canada and Mexico.

I wonder if we are always in a state of arriving and once there, we celebrate our arrival and move on to the next?  Wait a minute!  Not so fast and why be in a hurry to get on?  Oh, right, it is, after all, about the journey, not the destination.  That’s why ADVENTURE is two-thirds ADVENT and one-third URE, the result.  Now, in this moment, I look up to the clouds, and the rain and I have arrived.  Bill Bryson was right.  There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.  I walked in the rain, arrived at the market (Mercadito) and now I am back to finish this piece on ADVENT.  May your journey this month be filled with glad surprises, grace and gratitude.

Each day is an ADVENTURE.  That’s quite a gift!