Sad to say I wasn’t really attuned to some of these historical events, brought your way by 1959. Even sadder that I when I “asked”, someone with the moniler of A.I. answered. Alas…
Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states.
Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba.
NASA was born, Explorer 6 circled the earth while Russia’s Luna 2 impacted the moon and primates Miss Able and Miss Baker survived orbiting the earth.
Barbie was born.
“Some Like it Hot”, “North by Northwest” and “Ben-Hur” filled movie screens and “A Raisin in the Sun” glowed on Broadway.
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper started performing in heaven.
Richard debated Nikita on consumerism in a kitchen.
Personally, I couldn’t share anything that happened the year I was born in Bethesda. Mom and dad lived there as part of his residency experience.
Two years later my brother was born and we returned to our roots as “FIB’s”, commencing a life long struggle with those of the green and gold. A contentious tit for tat that might have finally turned a corner. Well, maybe allowed us to flip on the blinker. Sheesh.
All I know is that somehow I am sitting here in a kitchen, watching the sun come up, accompanied by a cup of Joe, sharing some nonsense with all of you. I know that Christmas is upon us, so I withheld puns and Dad jokes. You don’t deserve that coal in your stockings today.
But pretty surreal how things turn out, isn’t it. Who would have thunk.
If I get too wrapped up in things tomorrow, I wish you all a blessed and Merry Christmas.
Having spent too much of my life in the judgemental department, I guess at this point I would defer to, “am I aware when character is present?”
If I see things with that set of eyes and feel it with a true heart, then I sense the presence of character. My current reclamation project is still underway, creeping up to the same time frame as the road work being conducted on I94 for the past millennia. Though they are actually laying new concrete, that road grinder is still at work on me. A few more layers to go is my estimation. But I digress….
When you find yourself in the company of character, it acts as a magnet towards your soul. Filling a need that has just escaped one. Showing you how it is done. So you can see it in action. Emulate. And make it like your own.
Conversely, when you encounter the opposite pole, you should feel a push away. That is, if your positive and negative are in the correct orientation. Again, gives you a sense of what is not only lacking, but more importantly, what is not needed. What has the potential to do harm. A road that can become well travelled if you are not careful.
Had I been able to get to this earlier today would have made me most happy. But Christmas supply chain logistics came into play, and too many KPI’s we’re hanging in the balance for this Santa. But I digress…
Hearing my granddaughter in stitches when I use”wonky” at random and then ad infinitum.
Watching my grandson roll over for the first time and then continue on all the way across the room.
Seeing our OL block through all three levels and then run the field to gather in the endzone with their teammate after they blocked a path for him to score a touchdown.
Seeing tomatoes redden in the garden.
Watching a gazania open at sunrise and close at sunset.
Shoveling the driveway as it snows.
Singing a completely and intentionally tone deaf version of “happy birthday” to my kids, on their day, and leaving it on voicemail.
Making tomato soup and grilled cheese sammiches for dinner.
Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the umpteenzillionth time.
My best friend’s dimples and smile.
More to come I am sure.
But because of these prompts, I have been able to share with all of you.
I would have to think of what I did before responding to this prompt.
To me, for play or fun, aren’t things specifically set aside as such. I need to find my way back to PF for the playtime there on the bike and weight machines. It is fun to coach basketball for Special Olympics, and following the holidays, I can wind my way back to take in some off-season lifting sessions with the T-wolves as they prepare for the ’26 campaign.
Christmas shopping is fun to me. When the bills come due, it can be an altogether different and harrowing experience. But the joy in it outweighs the short term debt.
I guess when it comes to play time or fun, I don’t necessarily stipulate and cordon them off as such. Too much anticipation and expectation if you ask me. If anything goes south, in the least bit, then what was the point? Those are not boundaries I want to instill or live by.
Play time can be shooting the breeze getting coffee or at the checkout picking up your five favorite grocery items. (Oops! forgot that one yesterday.) Fun is calling an old buddy, connecting with the kids. Watching the finches hop around the seed left on the ground and watching Mr. Squirrel trying to figure out how to access the suet now that it has been moved to a bird only access point.
So play and fun are to be had everywhere and all of the time. If you can be open to letting things be and finding it in every available moment.
Thanks for the opportunity to play around with some thoughts, words, punctuation and sentences today!
There are a number of those that have cast an impression upon me, in their way, ultimately soliciting a positive outcome in my life. Some are instantaneous in nature, sort of a spontaneous combustion event. While there are those that were merely planted, left and took months, years or decades to germinate and come to fruition.
Moments, interactions and relationships can assume an identity all their own, playing out a role that may not be readily apparent. There are those that bring with them an open and genuine level of honesty and positivity. Meant for one’s immediate care and benefit. Delivered with complete integrity, humility and a love born of servanthood to all those in need.
The impact of those interactions are immediately apparent. And I can name many that were there in that fashion, precisely when I desperately needed it.
One in particular was so in tune with my wellbeing, that he somehow called me, out of the blue, precisely during one of my worst moments, simply because he wanted me to know that he was there for me. No matter what. To this day, I remain touched by this level of loving care. The fact that I just shared this event with all of you brings tears to my eyes, despite the fact it happened well over a decade ago.
Then, there are those lessons one encounters that begin more with a somewhat arbitrary sense of conviction and desire, because its “how I did it and it works, so you should do it too.” Born more of convention or convenience. Just because. And depending on the current circumstances in one’s life, one might be more apt to surrender a bit oneself to become like them. Join the clique. Be a member of the “team”.
At first, things may reap the rewards yearned for, creating a false sense of “I made it.” But as the cost to your true being is accounted for, things slip away and you can descend into realms that taint, harm and destroy. There might be ways to assuage this sense of loss and losing recognition of who it is you were to start. But ultimately, it becomes a lesson of redemption and rebirth. An interaction that cast a cloud of negativity over you and your life. But ultimately, in the final analysis, led you to where you were meant to be.
Just as I am indebted to those who have touched my soul in ways I never imagined, I too am grateful that others have led me to tough lessons in self realization and affirmation. Perhaps they were never intended to be how I accepted them. But despite the negative origins, they too became a positive and lasting influence on me. And to those men, I am also grateful for being a part of my journey.
I tend to digress once pen is in hand. But with regard to the basis of the prompt, “describe a man who has positively impacted your life”, without a doubt, he would be Him. God.
It was He that suggested that many fellow coach should call precisely when I needed to hear his voice and feel his love. And it was He that allowed me to exercise my free will, albeit poor in execution, while remaining right next to me as I rebuilt and found my true way forward in life. He brought all those other men in and out of my life, when they were needed, then not, so that I could finally find this man.
The one sharing this prompt on one of the best days ever.
...my temporary assignment. 