Ruminator

Photo by: Tim Bindner On October 31st, I headed out for a hike with my mate Mark. Neither of us could expect what we would have seen. Mark picked me up at 7:30am and we headed toward O’Bannon Woods State Park. I was excited to show Mark a few locations he had never been to before. That is a rarity. We pulled into the campground visitor parking lot and unloaded. Our drive there provided brief glimpses of fog and I was hopeful we would see some in the woods. As you can tell in the above picture, I did. We began our descent down Old Forest Road toward the Blue River. Old Forest Road is a paved road that leads to the campground but also veers right before the entrance to the campground and turns onto a gravel road. This road has a large iron gate that is locked. The only traffic this section of the road gets is from hikers, horseback riders and occasional official park vehicles. I am a huge fan of movies that involve forests. Especially the Lord of the Rings series. Today I felt like we we

Photo by: Tim Bindner Recently, my wife lost her grandmother on her dad’s side and her uncle on her mother’s side. Both services had similarities and differences. It got me thinking about my mortality and wishes upon my death. I have written about part of this already in a post called upon my death , but I wanted to expand on this a bit. If you read the blog linked above, you will see I am donating my body to a medical school, where they will use me for research and then cremate me and return my ashes to Marcie or Gavin (whoever is left). None of that is changing. What happens after that is something I have talked to my wife about, but want to share here and explain my reasoning for that. In most parts of the world, death is celebrated and not mourned. Death is talked about, planned, and not a taboo subject. In America, it is almost the opposite. At a minimum, nothing is done or discussed with family or friends, scrambling around after a death occurs. At best, the burial, funeral, or h

Photo by: Tim Bindner Growing up Christian and specifically Catholic, I was taught to help others in any way I can. Recently, two different interactions with ‘friends’ have shown me that the way I was raised and taught is not appreciated. The first interaction began with someone asking for the number of a roofer I recently used. I gladly provided it. As the interaction continued, they asked about the landscaping guy we recently used. I was texting him about an estimate for my yard as this exchange happened. I told them who that person was and to let them know I was sending them to him. In the meantime, the landscaper was texting me about a time to come bid for a job I wanted at my house. The person told me that was who they used for a different project and were familiar with him, so there would likely be no referral. I mentioned I was texting him and then this is where things went south. The assumption was made that I was letting him know they wanted a bid, and secondly that I felt my