Looking in the Mirror

I’m sitting here listening to some oldies but goodies from my high school and college days and memories come flooding back. I shake my head and wonder if I was ever that young and carefree. Old friends and carefree summer trips to Warren Dunes in Michigan float into my head. Isn’t it amazing what songs can trigger? When we are young we think we will go on forever. We think we are immortal!


I’ve had an interesting life after all is said and done. There have been good times and bad times so far, but life is always interesting. I grew up on a small chicken farm in Central Illinois and found my way to San Antonio, Texas. I’ve been married three times. I have two daughters and three grandchildren. I’ve travelled to Paris, Athens and Rome. I’ve flown over Pikes Peak, travelled cross country by train on the California Zephyr and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean in Cancun, Mexico. I’ve canoed across Canadian lakes with four best friends while watching eagles soar overhead. I’ve gathered eggs, pumped gas, worked for a newspaper, been an inside salesman for a scientific company, worked as a senior buyer for a telecommunication company, given tours in a historic mansion and worked as a historical interpreter for an internationally known historic sight. I’ve freelanced several magazine articles and written a book.

People and animals have come into and out of my life. Some have captured my heart while others have broken it to pieces. Some have inspired me and given me hope. Others have taught me lessons in love, patience and peace. But I’ve also had lessons on hatred, greed and fear. I have learned that I am a creative being and receive great energy from art. I have hurt on purpose and been hurt. I have been loved unconditionally. I have been loved in spite of…many things. I have laughed with friends and cried alone. I have watched people grow old and some have pass on. I have remembered the kitten while I stroked the head of an old friend as our vet ended his life before my eyes. I have missed and… been missed.

I was raised as a Presbyterian, was confirmed in the United Church of Christ, had my daughters baptized and confirmed as Catholics and served as an elder the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. I have been married in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Unitarian Universalist Church. I have attended Quaker, B’hia, Baptist, Jewish and Unity Church services. I have studied and embraced much from the Buddhist faith and New Age thought. I have learned that the more I think I know, how little I really know. I have learned that we are one and that what we do to others…we do to ourselves. We sow what we reap. I have learned that Love can overcome Fear, but that Fear too often gets the best of us because we are human on a never ending path. I’ve learned that we create our own reality…good and bad. I’ve learned that we get chances…lot of chances…until we get it right. Learning is remembering what we already know…and have always known.

I looked into the mirror today and saw a 58 year old man staring back at me and realized that life goes on. Where we are… is where we are at.

Food for THOUGHT…