“Avatar: The Way of Water” came out in 2022.  I loved the first Avatar and a few years ago I tried out part two on Disney Plus.  Maybe fifteen minutes in, I said “No” and turned off the TV.  I probably said something like “It’s nowhere near as good as the first one.”

Now it’s 2026, and last night.  “What the hell.  Give ‘er another try.”  So I did.

It’s not that I was wrong on my first brief viewing.  Who knows where my mind was in the moment?

But yesterday!  The screen filled my soul.  Mom and dad now had kids: two sons and two daughters.  And they were seeking shelter with a neighbouring clan – one which knew the sea, not the forest.

The beauty flowed for three hours.  The love, the pain of not knowing what “home” is.  And the turquoise water world, full of magical creatures.  I was entranced.

I look at the “back thens” of my life, and the moments of now that keep spilling out.  Who was that guy in 1969, 1988, 2012?  Well … they were all me, but different renditions of Bruceness.  One no better than another.

It’s tempting to think that the 2026 version is the finished product, but that’s not true.  There’s more to come.

And so …

What will emerge in this body and heart

Tomorrow, on my birthday in January, and as 2030 approaches?

“It’s unknown, isn’t it?”