A friend of mine was away in the South Rupununi for a couple weeks, doing some work and checking on some family, and was telling me about his travels – he was all over the map. I assumed he had flown to Lethem and motored from there. Turns out that the man drove all the way, solo, and he casually mentioned the return trip home was about 20 hours of non-stop driving. It hit me as the notion of the 20 hours sank in that I had reached the stage in my life where I was too old to take on a journey like that – it would wear me to a frazzle. Hard on that thought came a reminder that I had a note in my jottings to do a column about things we should plan to do before we’re too old to do them. So in no particular order of importance, here is the list as of today.
= Fly to Salt Lake City, Utah (the quickest route for us is via Miami) but don’t stay there. Rent a car and drive due south in the state, your destination being Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. They’re about 3 hours from Salt Lake City and less than an hour’s drive apart, and they are two of the most spectacular places on earth. Bryce is an unbelievable sandstone canyon with formations eroded over centuries into spectacular towers and valleys that take your breath away. Zion is more of a rock formation place, with huge columns of granite everywhere you look. And once you’re in Utah there is a range of other spectacular canyons, with deep gorges and meandering rivers. It’s stunning country. However be sure to make your trip in the summer. Even the folks in Utah will tell you it is murderously cold in the winter.
= There are several books about with the speeches and sayings of Martin Luther King. Get one. The man has left an astonishing body of work and in his speeches and sayings, both uplifting and enlightening, clearly evidence of a superior intellect and deeply held spiritual beliefs. While on books, in a separate direction, before you get too old to read, make sure to spend some time with one of the books of Cormac McCarthy. He’s the author of No Country for Old Men but my favourite of his is All The Pretty Horses. McCarthy is a master at descriptive prose (when he describes a scene, his words take you to the place in your mind) and he has a unique style of writing dialogue, without all the “he said” or “she said” but you know who’s speaking. The often overused word “brilliant” fits him perfectly.
= If you enjoy coffee, buy an electric coffee grinder (if you have an electric spice blender that will work) and some good quality coffee beans (Timothy’s in Canada is better than Starbucks) and make yourself a cup of coffee using just hot water poured over the ground coffee in a paper filter. Do that and you’ll never put up with instant coffee again for the rest of your life. Of course, with all the warnings about caffeine, I’m not suggesting you get into the 5-cups-a-day habit so common in North America. As in all things, old or young, moderation is the key, but that freshly ground coffee will add joy to your life. Try it before you get too old and forget.
= Get together four or five people you really care about and fly to Kaieteur. It is truly the awe-inspiring sight people tell you it is. I’m not a religious person, but every time I go to Kaieteur I get the thought (I mentioned this in a poem) that God lives there. The Falls narrow noticeably in the dry season, so be sure to time your visit for when the Potaro River is at its height, and be sure to take your camera. If you don’t have one of your own, borrow one.
= If you have children, send them each a letter telling them how much you love them and why. Don’t attach any reason to the communication, don’t make it sound like an obligation, just do it in plain simple heartfelt English that conveys the depth of the feeling. Don’t put it off. Don’t assume you have lots of time to get to that. You may be wrong in that assumption and your children may be denied that beautiful bouquet.
= Learn to make something with your hands – a piece of furniture, a painting, a song. It doesn’t have to be a piece of priceless art. They key is to take the time to acquire the proper techniques, whatever your project, and remember that nobody has a stopwatch on you checking how long you take. Forget time; concentrate on perfection. Don’t settle for shoddy work. For the rest of your life you will see or hear the work you created and the sense of satisfaction will fill your days.
= Whatever lessons you learned that helped you in your life, pass them on to people you care about. It doesn’t have to be your family; it can be somebody you worked with, or your favourite fruit vendor. It can be someone you meet on a plane and you take a shine to. Share it.
= Fly to Calgary, Alberta, rent a car and drive through the Canadian Rockies to Edmonton. The scenery is unforgettable, and there are no buildings anywhere except for the dozen or so used by the staff who run the national park that the area is. It is immaculately clean, always well maintained, and, as with Kaieteur, you get this powerful sense of creation. Every turn in the road as you go is another “stop let me get this” photograph. And, yes, go in the summer.
= If somebody did you some serious wrong – I mean a real low down trick – let them know you forgive them. Don’t do it in person or on the phone; the words won’t come out right, plus the other person will start to talk and interrupt your flow. Do it in a carefully crafted email or a letter. Lay it out there big and bold – the pain you felt, the disappointment, but that you don’t intend to walk around the rest of your life with rage inside you for something they did. Tell them you forgive them; be sure to tell them they don’t have to say anything in return.
= Stop a beautiful woman you don’t know. It can be anywhere – just walking the street, boarding a plane, standing next to her at a counter in a department store. Don’t make a big speech; “you are a very beautiful woman” is enough. Even if nothing comes of it, so what? You will have made one lady feel on top of the world, and her reaction may thrill you, too. If you’re doing this with a pickup in mind, that’s the wrong approach. It’s just an exchange between two of God’s creatures.
= Remember, now, before you’re too old.
