Journal

To: Me

by

I was recently reading an article about a hospice nurse that wrote down conversations with her dying patients and some of the things they wished they had done or would have chosen to do differently. Here are the top five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

I’ve read another book on life, choices and responsibilities. That we cannot blame others for the choices we make.

Notice how I am not talking about regret, but simply a desire to make a course correction and learn from the past.

One of the more memorable quotes of a very forgettable Star Trek movie:

Damn it, Bones, you’re a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can’t be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They’re the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don’t want my pain taken away! I need my pain!

There are some choices and decisions that I would change, sure. I wish I didn’t have to experience some of the resulting trials as a result. I wish my family didn’t have to endure them with me.

But it is those situations that help me learn and grow to become a better person.

Mayday! Mayday!

by

Mayday! Mayday!

My body and soul cried out for help as soon as I woke up this morning.

I gorged on fast food last night and it was one too many times in a row.

I fell off the wagon and hit rock bottom nice and hard.

Enough is enough. 

I have plenty of parks and trails in the area to enjoy a little bit of walk and roll.

So, I strolled through scenic Woodward park today. Later, I made sure the tires on my bicycle got a fresh coat of dirt on them.

This week I will go trail running with Couch to 5K again.

Aeroboxing, yoga, push ups and situps are back on the menu.

SLEEP.

Also, May is supposedly the month of the bicycle (who makes these up?)

Black Keys

by

Just got back from the Black Keys concert at the BOK Center. My soul just got rocked and my ears are still ringing. This is a good thing.

Thoughts

by

A lot of things are in my head and are trying to escape. Either I can’t articulate them or they are incomplete. Frustrating.

Roughing It

by

Why do people consider getting outside and into nature as “roughing it”?

Here in the city and in the suburbs are chaotic. The traffic, the hassles, the deadlines and the noise are unbearable.

The most enjoyable, peaceful times one can have are outdoors and even away from the city.

One of my favorite memories includes a weekend in a lakeside cabin, a borrowed Hemingway novel and no expectations.

“Three months of camp life on Lake Tahoe would restore an Egyptian mummy to his pristine vigor, and give him an appetite like an alligator.” – Mark Twain, Roughing It

Another memory included thin, crisp, clean evenings on a mountain range

Not very rough at all.

The Process of Elimination…

by

…is a true statement.

My in-laws are renting a dumpster and setting it up in their driveway. They are planning on eliminating years of stuff this weekend.

The rest of the family (local and even from out-of-state) are here to help with the purge, or salvage what they think is valuable.

Personally I am in favor of throwing a majority of our “stuff” over the side and celebrate when the waste company takes it away.

The process is almost over.