Living Deliberately

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

the pile of rocks left by pilgrims who visit thoreau's cabin site.  

Thoreau and Marc are two peas in a pod.

So many times I have been delighted to be attached to Marc, because he makes me cool by association.  He's always doing the thing I don't dare to do.  Little things, like swimming in our yard even though it's 59 degrees outside.

And joining the local Shakespeare Troupe.  And composing beautiful music.  

And setting up our nephew with the event of his five-year-old lifetime by befriending the guys working construction nearby. 

We took a trip to Concord a week or so ago.  sigh!  New England is so beautiful!  

We paid our respects at the graves of Thoreau, Emerson, and Louisa May Alcott.

And crossed the bridge where they fired the "shot heard round the world".  The best part, though, was this pithy inscription on the grave of the British soldiers who died there:

We hiked around Walden Pond...

and took a brisk swim in the pond.

I think Marc's willingness to do is the number one reason we make a good team in life.  It's my job to dream the big dreams, and convince us that it's possible.  Then, at the crucial moment when, if I were on my own, I would be too afraid to really take the leap, Marc grabs my hand and takes the leap for both of us.  Thanks to him, when we come to die, we will have lived.

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