Tick Tock (not TikTok)

When you reach a certain age (ahem), a series of events signifies that you’re on the downslope of life’s curve. 

• You turn 50 and realize you’re more than halfway done.
• You look in the mirror and think it’s your mother looking back.
• You try to use your car’s key fob to open the front door of your house.
• You wake up with a crick in your neck that takes weeks (not hours) to go away.
• You become orphaned. You’re a grown-up orphan.

It’s as if some great dealer in the sky is flipping your up-cards in a game of seven card stud, revealing your fate — card-by-card —  for everyone to see.  

Such happenings spark a sense of urgency, if not panic. Time’s running out! Add in a few lost pandemic years plus the uncertainties of climate change and, well, you realize that someday doesn’t cut it anymore. Today is someday.

So, I’m off on another double-duty adventure.  I’m heading to Portugal where I’ll first join a bicycling tour that takes us through rural routes in the Alentejo region which is known for wine, corks, medieval towns and Roman ruins. When that’s over, I’ll join a hiking tour that takes us through a variety of terrain north of Alentejo.  

I plan to arrive in Lisbon a few days early and sight-see without benefit of knowing a single word of Portuguese.Yikes! I hope you’ll check back and see how it goes.