The Present Is the Pen · YOVARRA Currents

The 31 Currents of the Second Half of Life

Every life in its second half runs strongest somewhere, and has room to grow somewhere else. Six parts, thirty ways to pair them, and one more for the season when all six run level. That makes thirty-one Currents. None is better than another, and none is forever. Rivers move.

Strong in Story

• The WitnessGrowing in Talents. You have held the camera for the whole family album, and you are in almost none of the pictures.
• The Keeper of the ThreadGrowing in Mark. A recipe kept only in your head is a meal that ends with you.
• The Lamp UpstairsGrowing in Ease. You keep the reading lamp burning upstairs while the furnace in the basement runs all night.
• The Philosopher by the RiverGrowing in Release. You can explain the whole river, and you are still standing on the bank telling it where to bend.
• The Completed ChapterGrowing in Ahead. You have bound the book and set it on the shelf, and there are still blank pages sewn into the back.

Strong in Talents

• The Gifted WandererGrowing in Story. The handles worn smoothest on your workbench already know what you have been building.
• The Untapped TeacherGrowing in Mark. A root cellar full of good potatoes feeds no one through the winter if nobody else knows where the door is.
• The Generous GiverGrowing in Ease. Everyone ties up to the steady dock, and nobody sees the pilings taking every wave.
• The Capable GuardianGrowing in Release. You can carry every grocery bag in from the car in one trip, and you have done it so long that no one comes out to help anymore.
• The Seasoned ExpertGrowing in Ahead. Your old map is the best one in the glove box, right up to the place where the paper ends.

Strong in Release

• The Easy TravelerGrowing in Story. You have a shoebox of good photographs and no album, and only you know which ones belong together.
• The Gentle PresenceGrowing in Talents. At every party people drift into whatever kitchen you are standing in, and you have never once wondered why.
• The Light HandGrowing in Mark. Seeds forgotten in an old barn-coat pocket stay seeds, however good, until someone kneels and plants them.
• The Unclenched HandGrowing in Ease. You can set the heavy bag down and still feel the mark of the strap on your shoulder for days.
• The Content HarborGrowing in Ahead. Your favorite chair by the window is a good chair, and it has faced the same bird feeder every morning for eleven years.

Strong in Ease

• The Strong VesselGrowing in Story. A full tank and a clean windshield are fine things to have, and they still do not tell you where to drive.
• The Able Body, Quiet GiftsGrowing in Talents. You know to the pound what you can still lift, and you have never weighed what people set down in front of you.
• The Ready HandsGrowing in Mark. A full rain barrel is a fine thing to have, and the garden stays dry until somebody carries a bucket to it.
• The Restless EngineGrowing in Release. Your body lies down at ten and sleeps.
• The Well-Kept HouseGrowing in Ahead. Your good walking shoes sit by the door, laced and ready, and every day you take them only as far as the end of the block.

Strong in Ahead

• The SeekerGrowing in Story. You buy a fresh notebook for every new beginning, and the old one in the desk drawer, with the hard years in it, stays shut.
• The Late BloomerGrowing in Talents. You arrive at the door of the new chapter with a full toolbox in your hand, apologizing for coming empty-handed.
• The ExplorerGrowing in Mark. You keep mailing postcards home from the road, and somebody there would trade the whole stack for a seat in the car.
• The Willing SpiritGrowing in Ease. The seed catalogs come in January, and you order for half an acre, while the knees that will plant it are asking for two raised beds.
• The Hopeful WatcherGrowing in Release. You keep one eye on the sunrise and one eye on the barometer, and the sunrise would like both of them.

Strong in Mark

• The Builder Without a BlueprintGrowing in Story. You have hung a dozen doors in other people's houses and never drawn the plan of your own.
• The Humble GiverGrowing in Talents. You have knit a blanket for every new baby in the family, and you would still say you are not much good with your hands.
• The Well That Feeds EveryoneGrowing in Ease. A well does not stay full by being drawn from.
• The Faithful StewardGrowing in Release. You will hand your grandson the keys to the old truck, as long as you can ride along telling him when to brake.
• The TorchbearerGrowing in Ahead. You are copying the old recipe cards for the grandchildren in your best hand, and you have not tried a new recipe in fifteen years.

All six level

• Still WaterOn a still morning the lake holds the whole sky, and someone on the dock asks whether anything is happening out there.

Leading a group at a church or synagogue, a library or a senior center? Currents for groups is a one-page guide for an evening together.