The Weekend

Oh, the weekend. A nice ride home from Lansing to Troy with a good friend. A fish dinner with my wonderful wife. Maybe a little Denny Crane to go with my blueberrry, raspberry, vanilla yogurt dessert. On Saturday, the graduation from college of my brilliant son and seeing my other brilliant son and my just as brilliant daughter. Lots of laughs, a few beers from the local Grand Rapids Brewery, a good breakfast, maybe a swim and a leisurely trip home talkikng and listening to great music on my ipod.

Well back to work on Monday. Not so hard. Have startted training for a Triathlon in September with Anne and Lesley. I could win for my age group or for being the coolest guy there. Need to work on swimming and running. Biking comes natural. Saw the Play Chicago last night. It is really funny and really creative. Tonight is 20 minutes on a bike. Oboy!

I Like Music

I work hard. I get stressed. I need to relax fast because of little time. I love music and just enjoying all the great artists. I like Bob Marley, John Denver, Dave Matthews, Glenn Miller, Shania Twain, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Little Judy Blue Eyes is the best rock song ever), James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Lyle Lovitt, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Ludwin Van Behtovin, Mozart, Vivaldi, The Kingston Trio, Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon, Richard Wagner, Roy Orbison, Jose Feliciano, Bach, Matthew Fox, Tony the Tiger, and on and on. 60's was great music and so were the 3 decades following. Whitney Houston, Sarah Mclaughlin. Paul gave me an IPOD and I am wearing the thing out playing songs from the Swing Kids, Apocalypse Now, Ordinary People, Band of Brothers, The Thin Red Line, Chicago, West Side Story, Godspell, Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis, Leann Rimes, Led Zepplen, the Beatles, Sleepless in Seattle. The MP3 player is the best thing since chocolate milk shakes.

Make it or Break it

We all have opportunities and we can challenge ourselves to travel, to learn, to get degrees, to be really helpful, to be satisfied with what we have, to want more that we are, to read more, to relax more, to take life in and to give life out. Any sense of making it or breaking it in life is deeply personal. God participates but as a breath of light air passing by us in a moment. The hint is so hard to catch. Be still.

Take the open Door

The brass ring comes around only a few times in life. Those are the open doors you go through without knowing what will happen. This is challenging because you are conciously impacting your life and have no idea what the next day will be like.

I have met great people who have been a blast purely by accident. Anne in Muncie, IN, Ryan Eames from London, Dan Brunet from MI, Mario Conway at a Church meeting in Colorado, Paul in Chicago, John in Boston and Grand Rapids, Mary Kate and Chris in Denver, Danton Fitch in Moscow, Ron Nester in Lafayette, IN, Brian Blood in Geneva, and so it goes. Carefully watch the next person you meet. They may be a friend for life. Take the blind path, the road less traveled, the adventurous way....what ever but "Stir it up." Feel the fear and to it anyway.

Throw your keyboard into your monitor, buy some warm clothes and climb a mountain. Take up mountain biking at age 61 and get into shape. Oh how we protect ourselves from the unknown.