Friday & Cadillac Problems

The plans fell through. A friend couldn't make it. I'd cleared a weekend for hunting and at the last minute he couldn't come. Goodie. I'd not planned to hunt more this year. After getting stuck in the snow and paying for a wilderness towtruck to get me out a couple of times years back I just don't enjoy the risk and cost of such winter adventures. I'd rather just ski and snowshoe. Maybe I'm getting old. There was a time when hanging off cliffs 4x4 ing was a kind of excitement. Looking back it was 'fun' then but today I just wouldn't find it fun. Rolling vehicles and getting stuck just haven't any appeal anymore. Been there, done that, got the tshirt. Let someone else have the experience. It was good at the time. Great stories. Wonderful survival tales but now I'm just not so sure. I don't like 'unnecessary' costs and the wilderness is treacherous this time of the year. It could eat my truck and I need it for work. I don't remember thinking of cost when I was younger. There was always time and work to take care of anything that came up. Now I'd rather spend money elsewhere. The cost of repairing a driveshaft could instead be as many nights in a Mexican beach resort. Today I think of the value of my truck, the payments and the wear and tear on my body. It was months that my ankle took to heal and my elbows still hurting from the fall weeks back. So what if I have chains and it may be the last day I can get out hunting this year. Maybe next weekend. Maybe I could go up to Texada in the boat at Christmas. But my freezer is full of venison and grouse. Moose season is over in the south. I'd rather go fishing. Fresh salmon would be a real treat. But for that I'll have to get the boat shipshape.

I can answer questions of life and death but faced with a change of plans I often find myself running around in my mind what I should do. They're called "cadillac" problems. Just yesterday a couple of us were discussing the merits of cross country skiing versus snowshoeing. Now life is rough when you have to decide whether to hunt or fish, cross country ski or snowshoe. Yet how often I'm feeling moments of self pity about the whole scheme of life. It's so easy to forget that I'm really blessed.

I've friends right now deciding between having cancer surgery or not, whether to move to another province being unable to find work here, others unable to pay debts selling their home. Generally money problems are cadillac problems. But my decisions right now aren't even 'cadillac problems'. They're Ferrari problems. It's a gift to have choices. We can get so twisted whether to get out of bed on a weekend even and think it's an 'issue'. Luxury and priviledge bring these indecisions.

Meanwhile I'm considering fixing a water heater or driving up to a motel to enjoy the hot water shower and then go hunting in the morning. Who knows what I'll decide. It's not important. What's important is that I'm grateful for the kind of problems I have. Cadillac problems. Thanks God for cadillac problems.