I Will Never Trade My Amazing Friends...

  
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, and my loving family for less grey hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing. 
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love....... I will.




I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They too, will get old. 

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things. 
Sure,  over the years my heart has been broken.  How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?  But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.  A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.






I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning grey, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.
  So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.


As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think.  I don't question myself anymore..  I've even earned the right to be wrong. 
 

So, to answer your question, I like being old.  It has set me free. I like the person I have become..  I am not going to live forever,  but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been,  or worrying about what will be.  And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART!






   
 

           

Know Thyself

There are a lot of good people who are into self-examination or as the Oracle of Delphi calls 'knowing thyself'.  I already however, know thyself.  I don't have to go down to the river to find myself, I know where I am at right now.  Here, at the computer, wasting time writing on my blog.  In fact, there is nobody who I know better or even as well as myself.

I like fried chicken, I don't like brussel sprouts.  It is not about what is good for me or what is not.  Nor is it about why it should be one way or the other. I know what I like and that is about knowing thyself.

One day I woke up and realized I don't have to know anything remotely close to 'everything.  I don't have to have all the answers.  "I don't know" is legitmate to me. That is thyself.

I like the color red, I don't like the color pink.  I don't need to know why.  That's knowing thyself.

If I get angry because of what you did to me, then I got angry at you because of what you did to me.  I  don't have to go seven generations back and discover what a prior self experienced at the hands of their mother, or father. That's knowing thyself.  If you make me angry who really needs to know myself is you and what consequences you have just acquired and you won't have to go seven generations back.

Knowing thyself, to me, is being comfortable with myself.  I can play a pretty good role in a play.  I've done it.  But I don't have to play a role in life.  I don't have to 'fake it, to make it.'  I am not a corporate CEO nor an imbecile, somewhere in between I'd say.  I don't need to act any different around either one.  That's knowing thyself.

In a recent radio program they were talking about characteristic traits of soldiers who were coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq.  One of the traits was being overly observant.  Whats wrong with that?  I have the same trait from my years in prison.  I want to know everything that is going on around me.  My wife thinks I don't make enough eye contact with her when we dine out because I am always looking around.  That's knowing thyself.

One final point, and I know this will bring on a barrage of protestations.  I, who have experienced plenty of bad situations in my past, do not need to go back and dig them up and play with them like silly putty to redeem them in my life.  It is enough that God has redeemed them as only He can, I can't and don't need too.  That's knowing thyself.

I Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed On Jesus

I Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Stayed on Jesus, performed by Indigo Choral Society, Georgetown, SC, in Winyah Auditorium, April 28, 2012.
Thomas Martin, director. Jan Fort, soloist.

Not a bad rendition at all.  In a year's time since this posting they have only had 519 views, so let's give them their props.  

 And then from that glorious wake up, I read the news.  Not a recommended beginning to any day.  6 month old baby shot 5 times in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood, an area I grew up in 58 years ago.  Of course the shooter probably didn't know a baby was in the car when he pumped 10 shots into the vehicle.  Still, at 1pm or so when the shooting occurred its a brazen disregard for human life at any time. Recent visits from the President and his wife will not alter this killing rampage that continues to plague the streets of Chicago.

Watching "The Bible" one sees that history is replete of violence from throughout.  Even Christianities heroes are less heroic as evidenced by their actions.  Even after the flood it only got worse.  What is one to think about the wars of today and violence in our streets, if even a man after God's own heart, David, sends a man off to war knowing his imminent death awaits him so he, David, can take the man's wife.  

I don't have many days in the week to take care of busy stuff so I better get busy.  This, that and the other will occupy pretty much most of my day.  Look on the bright side, God has given us another day to make a difference.

Putting All Your Eggs In One Basket Leaves Your Basket Crowded

Vaulting into my new writing practice I put all my eggs in one basket, a text, a poem, a song, and two, "On This Date in History" articles.  My post looks very crowded.  So, come tomorrow I am going to sort out my subjects according to their own kind.  Diversity has its limitations when it comes to writing. 

Speaking of eggs, a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a couple of tips on cooking hard-boiled eggs.  I run the risk of being named in a law-suit if I repeat these tips primarily because they didn't work.  A woman had to throw out her batch of undercooked eggs which she was hoping to include in her egg salad.  Now my friend is a very consoling type of gentleman and told her "sometimes its better to just take the loss."  No refund on his foiled advice, no nothing. 

Bubba says nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

I've only been up 3 hours and this day is moving much to fast.  The two 'darlings when they're asleep' will be up soon and my peace and quiet will turn to chaotic and loud.  I'll add to this as the day progresses but I think its going to be my new mode of posting to facebook.  That way I won't annoy those who think I post to much.  I can type on here all day long and it will appear as one post to facebook and believe me you really have to be my friend to come back and read the rest.  That is just fine, I can amuse myself all by myself.
Forgot to bring the chocolate doughnuts from DD, "I promise I'll get them this afternoon."  I said. 

I see I have to tell you that this is Celine Dion singing "All By Myself"
Maybe it's just me, but Callie Bergeron sure has Celine's eyes, and Callie can sing too.

I have much to do but I so feel like procrastinating.

On This Day March 11, 1941 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

Did You Know: Lend-Lease was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939. This was nine months before the U.S. entered the war in December 1941.

A total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $647 billion today) worth of supplies were shipped: $31.4 billion to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and smaller sums to other Allies. Reverse Lend-Lease comprised services such as rent on air bases that went to the U.S., and totaled $7.8 billion; of this, $6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth.
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On This Day March 11, 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.

Did You Know: Operation Tan No. 2 was a long-range Kamikaze mission directed at the main Allied naval fleet anchorage at Ulithi atoll in the western Pacific on March 11, 1945 during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The Japanese hoped to take the U.S. Pacific fleet by surprise and sink or damage a significant number of the fleet's aircraft carriers or other large ships.

Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation