I'M NOT GONNA LET IT CHANGE ME

You know how it is when you hit the national lottery, win the Superbowl, catch the checkered flag at Le Mans: it's a lift, a bunch of arm pumps, time to party, imminent lifestyle change.

Well a couple days ago the current chairman of our mountain residents' committee came to see me while I was out in my garden stacking firewood for next winter wondering if I'd have enough, and he asked if I happened to want any more firewood I said sure in a normal voice, he said there's a guy upmountain who's clearing the land around a cabin he just bought and is renovating, and he wants all the wood he's cut down taken away, so we went up there for a look and it was a very big tract of opportunistic oak and cherry that had grown up on the property, much of the oak just the right size for vastly replenishing my waning shiitake stock and a lot of larger oak besides, some of the sleek wild cherry already sectioned and laying there on the slopes like big fat sausages waiting to be taken home.

I didn't actually jump up and down yelling, but in the restraint of proper gratitude I could feel that checkered flag; I did the mental dance in the end zone, and what am I gonna do with all this new wealth, I'll tellya, I'm not gonna let it change my life, I'm not gonna move or quit my job or anything, I'm gonna be the same regular eccentric guy I've always been, a guy who's gonna get LOTS of really healthy exercise sawing, lugging, splitting and stacking beautiful pieces of mountain-grown wood, lots of really healthy mushrooms starting in a couple years (the monkeys will be grateful) and have lots of gold and ruby treasure stacked in heaps around the house without it turning my head. And not think about heating for quite a few years while I party.