{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Liminal","description":"On Keepin It Real this week, Cam Marston makes some observations on this odd stretch of the calendar between Christmas and New Years.  ----- This is a strange time of year every year. Kinda a liminal space between two big holidays. My instinct says I need to be working but the buzz of my email \u2013 a reflection of how busy my work world is \u2013 is so quiet. It\u2019s hard to get anyone to make decisions right now. Beginning around December 18th, we enter the \u201clet\u2019s circle back on this next year\u201d stretch of the calendar. We go from opening small talk with \u201cSo, are you ready for Christmas?\u201d to ending it with \u201cLet\u2019s circle back next year.\u201d I\u2019m as guilty of it as the next guy. My father turns eighty-eight today. He\u2019s turned his pickle-ball crowd onto these commentaries. So, to those of you playing pickleball today at the Via Health Center on Dauphin Street in Mobile, wish my father a Happy Birthday. He will probably try to waive you off, but I know he\u2019ll be flattered to hear from you. One of the most remarkable things in my world today is the activity of my eight-eight-year-old father. He plays pickleball at least four days a week. He\u2019s made a whole new friend group there. Last year they convinced him to get a bike, and when they don\u2019t play pickleball, they\u2019ll often gather downtown and ride together for a few hours, staying away from the hills, and stopping some place for lunch or a beer. Many of them are twenty years younger than my father. They like him. They call to check in on him. They invite him to join them when they schedule things. It\u2019s wonderful for him and it\u2019s wonderful for my brothers and me to know that since my mother\u2019s passing a few years ago, my father has found an outlet. I saw recently that one of the primary ways to determine how long you\u2019ll live is your measure of activity. Said another way, you don\u2019t get old and stop moving, you get old when you stop moving. Dad\u2019s still moving. He can still split firewood with an axe, still keep up with the youngsters on his bike, and still play pickleball several times a week. My daughter calls him to play when she\u2019s home from college and they make a morning of it together at the Via Health Center. Right around the corner on the calendar is Twelfth Night, known more commonly as the Feast of the Epiphany. The traditional date is January 6th and it\u2019s the official start of Mardi Gras down here on the coast. King Cakes begin appearing in bakeries, beads start showing up. Notable and respectable people forgive each other and are forgiven for acting like fools with the culmination being Mardi Gras day which, this year, is March 4th, and, as luck has it, is also my birthday. In years past when my birthday coincides with Mardi Gras Day, I\u2019ve created quite a spectacle of myself. Those days are over though I will enjoy Mardi Gras day a little more this year because it\u2019s my birthday and I will enjoy my birthday a little bit more because it\u2019s Mardi Gras.. Enjoy this odd liminal time on the calendar. Soon enough the grind will start again, and these commentaries will return \u2013 hopefully \u2013 to meaningful and thoughtful content. I\u2019m Cam Marston just Trying to Keep it Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"