My—and let’s face it, probably everyone’s—favorite public-engaging historian, Heather Cox Richardson, talks a good deal about “chop.” Living in coastal Maine, she sees it all the time (and her husband, a lobsterman, has to drive his boat through it). She means this:

Chop. Swirl. Eddies. Currents. Unexpected wavelets, even waves, hitting from all sides, throwing you off balance, interfering with forward movement. Obscuring forward movement. Where am I headed, anyway? Where’s this interference coming from? Should I drift for a moment or power through? What new challenges will either choice unleash? Which way should I steer?

I am neither historian nor lobsterwoman. But—in case you’ve wondered whether Wing’s World has fallen off the face of the earth—I’ve been living this metaphor for the last several months. Chop, for me, has set blogging wayyyyy back as a priority. Only now am I coming to realize I might need this blog as a navigational marker to sail on through this stuff.

I have always considered myself the person least touched by adversity of any I’ve met. I even wrote a song about it, from the perspective of someone who got all the bad shit I’ve avoided: “Who got my sunshine, who got my ease?/Does she realize her fortune? Will you tell her, please?” The song ends, “Hope she’ll be ready when her skies turn black.”

This year, my skies finally darkened.

In December, my high school bestie died, with no chance to say goodbye. A week later, a close local friend died. In February, the Mate’s health circumstances took a hard turn. And in early June, my amazing father, Peter Klopfer, died.

Add to that the national shitstorm we’re all living through, and…

Another favorite topic of HCR (Heather Cox Richardson) is navigational markers. In my personal chop, I have decided to focus on these few to guide me:

• Interdependence on and with family, friends and the Mate, more intentionally than ever in my life
• Using historians, legal minds, politicians and activists to keep myself inspired and motivated
• Using my own resources of time, money and WORDS to amplify that inspiration and motivation

I won’t blog about the first marker. But the other two? Watch this space.