The Yesterdays Of

To the best of my knowledge, I am not under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Commission or any other Agency.

However, I scrupulously maintain a calendar and have done so throughout most of my adult life. The Christmas I was twelve, one of my gifts was a small diary with a green cardboard cover. Perhaps that is when this habit started, but I am not quite certain.

In later years I used a dark gray hard covered book published by American Express for their clients. Later I changed to a HP PC, which was far easier. Then 9 years ago the Fabulous Four presented me with an IPad. I have upgraded this four times since then and maintain my records with ease.

You may wonder why. Sometimes I do, too, but I suppose it’s just another one of my foibles. And yes, it does give me a strong reminder not only of my humanity but frailty as I step back gingerly in time and see what I have or have not accomplished.

I do that annually when the sky is gray in January, and I remove my rose colored glasses and look at reality.

Today was such a moment.

As I checked back with the precise precision technology allows, I realize for exactly five years, I have been ill the week before Christmas. Important information? Only for me, and I must discuss it when I have my annual checkup. Possibly, I become overtired, or jump off my dietary agenda onto an unhealthy roller coaster of carbs and/or sugar. Obviously. I am doing something wrong.

I also note with chagrin that each New Years Day alerts me to the reality that over the holidays I have welcomed back the 10 lbs. I worked so hard to lose. Frailty, thy name is woman.

Then as I scan my social engagements throughout the years, I see how they have slowly diminished. There are fewer lunches and weekly dinners have almost disappeared. Instead I see FACETIME calls scheduled and/or received. While there are still excursions for recreation, they appear to be more the exception than routine as the years and days escalated. Foreign travel has also disappeared.

The red letter days, and they are truly that, recorded with a Red Circle, are those one when the Fabulous Four or their loved ones visit. They appear more and more as the seasons float by.

I notice with sadness the amount of greeting cards I purchased has almost hit the single digit mark. I try to rationalize that perhaps I am using Email or Facetime instead, but in my heart of hearts I know there is a different reason.

My charge account records have changed too. Partially, I realize because of relocation, but still I feel regret as I comprehend more and more of my expenses are via internet. I do miss the pleasure of entering SFA in Walt Whitman Mall and seeing Rhoda, my favorite salesperson, waiting on the second floor. Of course, now there is Tod and Andrew and visits with my friends to their amazing boutique are duly recorded on my calendar.

I also miss my visits to the Red Door in Woodbury and being greeted by so many familiar faces. I note, however, that my spa expenditures in Michigan are precisely the same amount as those itemized in NY. I am grateful that is one habit (or perhaps extravagance) that has not changed or lessened.

I am also aware there are many in my world who will view this annual habit as an exercise in futility, and totally unnecessary. Despite their negative viewpoint, I am reluctant to stop recording precise information about so many of my yesterdays. Each day is always important.

Of course, Robert Mueller would undoubtedly also find my methodical calendars tres boring, but I treasure them as a reminder of life’s fragility and indeed my own.

And yes, I’m really glad I kept them.