Thursday, December 6, 2012

Everyone Wants a Happy Ending

Photos of a memories...a December snow.

It goes without saying that everyone wants a happy ending.  There are those that declare it is not the journey but the destination and others with the opposite opinion.  I am of the opinion that it is all about the journey and if you do the journey right the destination will be as it should be, too. 

November Retreat, 2008
I want to write a little about happy endings.  Sure how things end up is important.  We all want to end up rich and famous and happy beyond belief with no worries in the world.  Even though I consider myself a hopeless optimist I really don’t think that the stars align and all of the cogs of the wheel fall in to place like that very often.  Most of the time, we are simply making the best of the situation we are in at the moment.  This does not mean we are settling for less than we are capable of or that we are in any way giving up on our dreams, aspirations and goals.  We may not even be totally satisfied with the situation we are in at the moment, but we should enjoy it.  I bet you are saying, “what, are you saying we should enjoy bad times, the downs as well as the ups in life, those days, we all have when we think it was too much trouble to get out of bed in the morning?”

Thanksgiving at Fort DeSoto
in Florida
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Every day of your life has the potential of containing the most wonderful memory you will ever make.  The funny thing is; you never really know when you are making a memory.  It may be in the least obvious moment of your life.  You will never know until that moment comes back to you and brings a smile to your face. Maybe it is when you look at a grown man and see the child he once was and a flashback enters the canyons of your brain and a memory of a skinned knee or a tear on his cheek or maybe a flower for his mother rolls back to you the same way it left you years earlier…silently without warning. 
Holden's very first soccer match

Logan enjoying crab
at Crabby Bill's in Clearwater
Yes, every road we travel has multiple options for the direction we travel along this trek we call life.  Of course we have the option of moving forward or going in reverse or maybe even just standing still. Really though, we have many, many more options than that. The road forks very often and we must make the decision to go right or left.  My choice is always the same…I am not traveling the expressway.  I am taking the back roads and enjoying the scenery as I pass along my route to where ever it is I am going.  I am traveling slowly along the way and stopping often to take in the scenery.  If I have a fear it is that I won’t pass this way again and because of that, I don’t want to miss any of the views and vistas that life brings to me. I don’t want to sit in a rocking chair 40 years from now and wonder what it was like to do this or that.  I want to be that old guy who can say, “yep, I did that. It probably wasn’t smart at the time, but I sure am glad I tried it.” 

2010 snow fall
I saw a t-shirt the other day with these words on it: “scars are just like tattoos but with better stories.”  If that is the case, I am like the painted guy in the circus.  I am full of scars and full of stories.  I can remember each of them, how I got them and the lesson each and every one of them taught me…good or bad.  If you are going to travel through this life, you are going to end up with some scars.  The road is not always smooth and we will take the wrong one from time to time, but you have to keep moving along the way. Just be certain to travel slowly enough to enjoy what you are going through.  

Snow falls are rare...
this one was in 2010
We often hear the quote, “take the time to stop and smell the roses.”  I don’t know the origin of that quote, but I do know that the 1956 biography of golfer Walter Hagen, “The Walter Hagen Story”, he is quoted saying, “ You’re only here for a short visit.  Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” I guess what I am trying to say is I think we should indeed think about where we are going in life, just not be so intent on getting there so quickly. Dre’ (my wife) and I have talked about this a lot.  We understand that many roads have brought us to where we are today and many more will take us to where ever it is we are going.  Some roads are bumpy and some are smooth, some are straight and others wind through endless turns, but all get you to where you are supposed to go in the end.  I am intent on having not only a happy ending but happy travels along the way.  Remember, if roller coasters were flat no one would want to ride them.  Why should life’s roads be any different?
My dad's dog Andy...Daddy
saved his life when he was a pup.

Everyone’s wants a happy ending, just make sure that all the time you spend getting to that ending is happy, too.  Enjoy the journey of life. You are making memories at every turn.

Until next time…John

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