The younger Mr. Wilner is in bed because he has an early morning wake up call as he has chosen to go to work tomorrow morning so that others can prepare for Thanksgiving meals.
His younger sister may be on Thanksgiving break, but has made a point to pick up shifts almost every night she has been home to earn a couple of bucks.
Can’t tell you how pleased I am with their respective work ethics and the people they are growing up to be. What I see there is ample reason for gratitude but I am glad there is far more to go along with it.
I know from personal experience that you don’t always get that much and the value of being cognizant of it.
Reminds me of a recent conversation in which I reminded someone the foolishness of trying to bully and or control me. Tell me what direction to drive and there is a good chance I’ll go the other way, maybe it is the Taurus in me or maybe it is something else.
Doesn’t really matter what, it just is. Like me, love me or hate me and I’ll still be me. I am good with that and grateful for it too, have seen too many people adapt to change to fit others– that is a recipe for an unhappy life.
How Many Quotes Do You Know?
Not so long ago someone asked how many quotes do you know and received a longer answer than they expected.
It wasn’t because brevity and I are sometimes at odds but because I wanted to clarify the question. I wanted to know if they wanted a number or something more sophisticated like the meaning/understanding behind the quotes we use.
Some have nothing and some have more depth. Are we to take the quote above at face value and say there is no more to it than appearance or do we get to discuss it.
I argue we get to debate and discuss. I argue that we may have more than one great love of our lives and that some love doesn’t die but that wasn’t what they wanted me to answer.
They wanted the superficial response and that is ok, I was happy to go deeper and to consider it. Intellectual stimulation takes a variety of forms and I am grateful for the ability to stretch my mind.
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I discussed an upcoming meeting with someone today and they told me not to be concerned, “it is a very good thing.”
They were surprised to discover I was irritated. Don’t give me 50 percent of a story and refuse to divulge more details. I’d rather not know any details.
I’d rather figure it out as I go. Sometimes forewarned is forearmed and sometimes it is fore-irritated. Sometimes I will drop these topics and never approach them again because I don’t care enough to be irritated but they have my attention now.
So it looks like I will stick with digging for more details and working out what I need to know. Things that get my full attention aren’t dropped until I am satisfied and I can take years chasing down the information. I am grateful for the tenacity and determination to work for what I want.
And I am grateful for the wisdom to figure out when it is time to let go.
That last part was a hard earned lesson that left some bruises and a few scars.
Will There Be A Part II?
A fine fellow asked if there will be a part two to The Real Reason I Moved To Texas and I said there might be three or four parts.
I have been to the gym every day for the past week but I have been more cognizant about adjusting my workout to reflect my age and current health status.
It is not easy to do so because my head is convinced I can still lift like a far younger man but some things say otherwise.
To a large extent I can still do virtually anything I want to. This period reminds me a bit of what it was like when I was younger and missed a chunk of time.
Back then I had to take some time to work back to where I had been and then additional time to exceed it.
Now I have to spend less time lifting the heavier stuff or the joints start to squeak a bit. I tested the limits a bit and found I can go pretty hard and relatively heavy but if I am not cautious about it there are consequences.
So I am adjusting because there is vanity and there is sanity and I am grateful for the ability to exercise as I do. I know more than a few people who cannot and or are limited.
Might not look like I want to or do as I wish, but I can still do so much and that enables me to prepare for the future and that is worth something.
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Been making a list of a few places to visit and have some big ideas about them. Won’t go in too much detail but am anxious to get back to Hawaii and to visit Scandinavia.
Got to get back to LA to see family and friends, will probably take some pictures of places that will blow away some people who think they know something about it after a short week there.
Grateful for the ability to do these things and for the impatient folks who think they know things even when they don’t know what they think they do. 🙂
Reminds me again that you never know who will be a part of your life and who won’t. Reminds me that a long time ago I was asked if I could the name the people I was most honest with and if they would in turn name me.
The point of that conversation wasn’t that I or any of the other participants were dishonest. It was that we share different parts and pieces of our lives with the people we let in.
Some get little bits and some get chunks.
Sharing this song from Bruce again because it is one that makes me smile and feels more important than ever given all that is going on and all that will come.
Epilogue
I had a dream about my dad and my dear friend David made an appearance. I told the old man that it is hard to believe this is the fifth Thanksgiving he hasn’t been around for and he shrugged his shoulders at me.
That made me smile because his point was we shouldn’t focus on the ‘big things’ as much as all the little things that come along that we share.
Makes sense because in many ways the little things become the big things.
And David, well it is 24 years since he died so I asked him if he recognized me. Can’t remember exactly what he said but it was sarcastic and that made me smile because I knew it was him.
I remember looking at him and saying “Brother, next year it will be 25 years. We’ll be 54. We have missed you.”
He smiled and I don’t remember anything else, but I am grateful for the time I have had and whatever else I get. Grateful that I can screw around with software and create silly pictures and do so much more.
We never know when the last bell will be rung or which Winter will be our last, so got to live and love hard while we can.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who visit, life is pretty good.
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