My wife was recently telling me about a friend who lives for photography. When he isn't out wandering the outdoors with a camera he is at home editing his photos. This has been his lifetime obsession. I admire him for this as long term obsessions have always been difficult for me.
I've had many obsessions in my lifetime, however I've abandoned each of them as time went on. Here are a few of them:
Bicycles: At one point I was cycling 30 miles a day. I had two very expensive Peugeot bicycles, one for racing and one for touring. When I moved to Oregon the roads were too rough and the tires were constantly being eaten and it was difficult keeping the wheels true, I ended up giving them away.
Photography: This started in high school. I was confident and pretty talented. I was published several times. I had a fully equipped darkroom for color and black and white, but I lost interest when I moved to Oregon. I gave away all of my cameras and darkroom equipment over the years. Now I rarely ever take a photo even though I always have an iphone on me.
Music: I started playing guitar in the late 60s. I ended up with a Gibson SG Special, a Baldwin Bass. I blew out my hearing in one particular loud garage session, so I sold all of my electric equipment and ended up with a Yamaha 12 string, and a big box Guild, an Ovation and an Arita Classical. I haven't played in the last 30 years. I still have the Ovation and the Arita.
Records: Back in my college days I had a radio show. The station library was lacking and only stocked music that they received as promotional recordings, so I bought records and lots of them. I haven't listened to any of them in hears. I sold about 500 of them a few years back and I'm thinking of selling the remaining 500. I don't listen to music much anymore.
Fishing: I grew up fishing on the east coast and in Canada. I loved it but moving here I found it difficult. It's just so different in Oregon. I gave it up, but I've since rekindled my interest just in the last two years with very limited success. It's nice just to get out and be lazy in nature and I can justify my lack of general success by stating that I'm weeding weeding the lake or river or ocean one cast at a time.
Bees: Over the last 25 years I have kept bees, lectured, taught classes, appeared on radio and on TV news, captured swarms, wrote articles, sold colonies, honey, wax and balms and lotions from my efforts in beekeeping. About two years ago I found that not only was it too difficult to keep bees alive due to varroa mites and climate change, but my annual crop of hundreds of pounds of raw honey dwindled to years of no honey at all in the attempt of keeping the bees alive through the winters. I decided enough was enough and gave up bee keeping.
Books: Through most of my life I've been an avid reader, but something has changed either with my taste in literature or my attention span. Now it takes me several months just to get through one volume.
Writing: In the past I've written several novels, and if you recall this used to be a daily blog. This blog has been running since 2006, but there was a point where I stopped writing for two years. I've since resurfaced and now again I try pen my thoughts from time to time. I've lost all but a few readers, but that's Okay. I've always thought of this blog as a repository for my thoughts that I don't want to forget.
Chickens: We had them for several years. We've kept as many as a flock of 20 and had a pretty successful egg business, but between marauding dogs and weasels, coyotes, rats and once a bear or a cougar ripped the 1/2 in hardware cloth from the chicken yard... Well it just wasn't worth the trouble. I now park by tractor in the roofed chicken yard.
Boats and kayaks: I used to have two boats. I sold the tinny (aluminum) because it was just too small at 14 feet and the engine I had for it was too heavy and powerful. Then I sold the two kayaks because of rotator cuff issues, but took on another one which to too difficult ot get out of without getting wet. Now I have a 16 foot fiberglass tri-hull that I will be selling this spring. It's just too much boat for me.
Horses: I got back into horses in 2002. My little farm is based mainly around them. We've kept two horses here on our property continually for 20 years now. I'm on my fourth and my wife has had several more. We've lost count... I've had too many accidents on horses over the years and I just grew tired of getting injured. That plus spinal stenosis made it necessary to stop. I've had several surgeries on my spine since I stopped riding and I'm probably good to go riding again, I just don't have that passion any longer. I am also looking forward to a second hip replacement so I am presently in too much pain to swing a leg over a saddle.
So in conclusion I find it interesting when someone has a life-long passion and keep up the momentum. I salute all of you who do.
