Pogue,

You know that it’s said that you never get to appreciate something until it’s gone. Yeah? Well I want to reassure you that this is so true and its been the source of my musing for the last few days. Like something that is fundamental that, over time, finds its way to the bottom of the drawer only to be forgotten.

This is what happened.

I had my second Covid vaccination, hoping for the best but planning for the worst as the first jab had left me in bed for 24 hours. A week passes and I feel a little tired, sleep a little more, but I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got this one beat’. Then, wham, out of no where I’ve got laryngitis, which I’ve never had before. I spend two days being unable to swallow anything but water, sleep continually, and only return to eating anything of note on the fifth day.

Normal service has now been resumed but not before I had begun to appreciate a much taken for granted bodily function, swallowing. And, boy, how good it feels now. Strange thing is, it felt this good before the jab, I just didn’t realise it.

Now I’m asking ‘How much do I take for granted and to what extent would a more mindful approach to each day benefit me?’ This was a fundamental thing but oh so good to have. But how much of what is fundamental to life have I lost sight of in a world where necessities are created by the hour.

I say again, ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ and the more I live the more I discover the profundity of this truth.

And this experience, and a comment from a lady who read our last letter, has inspired the next letter or two.

Go deep or go home. Coming soon.

Yours,

Wic