2026 Life Logs, Day 230: Engaged With My Life
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Back to Hot and Humid; High Temp 80, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
A man named Peter Coyote was an actor, but for the past 34 years he has been a practicing Buddhist priest. He is engaged in political and social causes as well as being a passionate advocate for wildlife and wild nature. But this afternoon, I saw him in the documentary, “Lightworkers”, and he said something that really struck me. “I’m not an activist. I’m engaged with my life.” For those people who are working hard to save our democracy, but have trouble labeling themselves as an activist, I think this is the perfect description. I was watching “Lightkeepers” to see if I want to recommend that the Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee sponsor a screening of this documentary locally. And after watching it, I definitely do. Another quote from the film that I loved was, “You can’t do it all, but you can do one thing—a lot of one thing.” So many people are so very frustrated by the current political place we find ourselves in, but they say they don’t have time to get involved. If they chose just one thing to do, and did a lot of it, it would be great for the cause and it I think they would no longer be quite so frustrated.
When I got up this morning, I looked at the calendar I share with the Goldstones, and I saw that Heather had to take her aging Honda Civic to Hyannis Honda for a 9 am appointment and leave it for the day. I texted to see if she needed a ride back home from Hyannis because I knew she wasn’t going to stay there all day and wait for the work to be done. I had to go Mashpee anyway to try and solve the ‘disconnection’ issue between my sister’s phone and mine. It takes 20 minutes to get to Mashpee from here, and only another 15 minutes to Hyannis, so after some convincing, Heather agreed to let me come get her instead of her riding the bus home. On our way home, we stopped at Bridges in Mashpee and solved the disconnection problem and then headed home. She was going to work, and I was going home to clean house to get ready for Kevin’s arrival. Sorry, Kevin. Instead of house cleaning, I chose to watch “Lightworkers” so that I could make my recommendation at tomorrow morning’s Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee meeting. And I am so glad that I did. It is the perfect film to help those who already working hard to save our democracy to feel really good about what they are doing, while at the same time nudging those not yet involved closer to doing so.
I did go food shopping for the first time in ages this evening. My refrigerator was so empty that on Sunday it prompted me to take the shelves out to clean them. But now they are filled. I might not have a perfectly clean house when Kevin arrives, but I will have food! Plus, I still have part of the day tomorrow to tidy up the house a bit before his arrival on Thursday.
The last activity of the day was a Board of Library Trustee Resource Committee meeting. And just before heading to that, I got a text from my sister’s granddaughter announcing the arrival of Patsy’s first great grandchild. We will arrange a Face Time ‘meeting’ with Patsy and Jack Ryan Miller (9 lbs 1 oz) later this week. Congratulations to the parents, Jessica and Josh, Grandpa Bill, and welcome to Jack!
