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Health & Fitness

PLAINS & PLATEAUS

One of the Fabulous Four is coming for a visit.  They pop in and out of my world with the regularity of falling stars, and yet each time one arrives, I feel I have reached the pinnacle of a roller coaster.

When I got the telephone call, I told my son, "Wonderful, and I will kill the fatted calf."  A tried and true New Yorker, he responded, "Mom, please, I only want pizza."  And so it goes.

When I was, oh so young, and sitting in a geography class, I wrestled with the terms plains and plateau.  Living where all the streets and avenues were numbered, the concept of rolling land and hills escaped me.  A lifetime later I have no problem because my life has fallen into the two categories.

The plains of life are the peaceful ones, uninterrupted by either good or bad.  The plateaus a bit more dangerous, but the wonderful adventures of the rapid transitions from mundane to utter joy more than compensate.  When my husband and I spoke about the possibilities and probabilities of my being alone, he often reassured me that all would be well, and those in my circle of love would embrace me with their presence.  As so often, he was right, and I have so much to be grateful about.

So sometimes when the plains seem to be unending, and a strand of boredom creeps into the landscape, without warning life hits a plateau.  And it is time to take inventory.  If life continued endlessly along a landscape of valleys and mountains, it would become utterly exhausting emotionally.  As quiet as the downtime can be, it gives us the ability to restock psychologically and prepare for either the next storm or wonderful rainbow.

And indeed so it goes.  And I am so glad.

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