Seven things

1. I have never been  really involved in sports and overall I have not had much interest in sports throughout my life. The exception was that in my Senior year in High School I made the Varsity Wrestling Team. With no prior background or participation in any sports I made the team. I took the 141 weight category and represented the school in maybe 1/3 or more of the events. For three of the smaller schools we played I won the match by pinning the other player in minutes. The biggest event was against the other home town High School. Many were there to watch. I lost.  The loss was hard. I think if I had spent 3 or 4 years in the program I would have been a much more formidable opponent in my senior year.  Wrestling was a sport I really liked and boxing has been one I have always liked. 

2. I took piano lessons for a least 5 years or longer in late grade school and junior high.  I just don't remember for sure. I took it long enough that I should have been better at the end than I was. The teacher I had was very traditional and just had a set way to learn and a set pattern of what to play........ that was boring. She would sit in her kitchen and listen to me play at practice through the closed door. I had no understanding of what I was missing until years after I had stopped the lessons. I never once played a song that I recognized or enjoyed.  I think I could have done a lot better. The quality of the teacher is important.

3. I have ran 13 marathons. I ran at least 10 miles a week for 25 years. Sometimes the mileage was much higher. For 13 of those years when I did a marathon I would have mileage that went as high as 70 miles a week. I don't know if I have enough mileage under my belt to have run around the world but I could have made it across the US and back for sure. Course it would have taken me 25 years or else I would have had to take a lot of time off.

4. In September of 1971 I listed on a sheet of paper 15 things that I had as goals to make me a better person. I rated myself on each of those goals at least once a year for 10 years and have looked at those ratings often. I rated myself again in July of 2013 and honestly felt I had improved each item significantly.

5. In January of 1978 I started a journal and wrote summaries of the events of my life. The entries were regular, sometimes monthly, and always were made several times a year through around 2002.  Even since then I have made regular entries.

6. Once when I was in junior high school I got in a fight with a fellow a lot bigger than myself. He knocked me down several times. When he beat me in that fight it was embarrassing. For some reason the experience left me understanding that it was just one fight and made little difference. I lost my fear to fight. I had a few other fights after that loss and won them.  Looking back at life, it in some ways, has all been a fight. I have lost count of how many times I have just gotten up and moved on. I have never feared a fight. Maybe I should have?

7. In 1971 one of my goals had to do with my desire to "learn" more. My efforts to learn more have been regular and sincere and to my thinking what I hoped for in growth was substantial. What I have learned over the last 42 years is that I need to learn more.

Instead of 7 thoughts just a thought provoking thought

A note to my good friend and companion

I remember when I was young, so was you
Time Stood Still
Love was all we knew

Look at us now
After all these years together

Look at us now
After all we have been through

Look at us now
Still leaning on each other
Perhaps me more than you

If you want to see
How true love really should be
Then just look at us now

Look at you
Still pretty as a picture
You light up the room when you enter

Look at you me now
Still crazy over you

Look at us both
Still believing in forever

A trail of people who made a difference

Today I got an email from a friend who lives in the Washington DC area.  He wrote about the full fall season, the impressive autumn array of deep orange and caramel browns while the leaves keep falling. 

Our back yard had it's "stunning few weeks" of bright red and some oranges but it is close to being over.  Our blue sky almost never fails us.  The mountains are "pretty good".

A note from a  good friend who is now far away is very welcome. It is a little surprising and or less than what you would really hope for how many good friends just don't stay in contact. It takes an effort but mostly as I look back over the years I recall the people on the trail.

What is life and for that matter what will the eternities be like is a important question...............at least I think it is.  Mostly the answers you find are illustrated as a trail we took, a path we followed or even a trip. The pictures I posted today are on the trail. Even my friends pictures bring back memories of when I was there and my recollections. I don't think that life is just places, especially pictures. I don't think the trail is places or things. New cars are nice for a few days but most new things just become old things. The best part of the trail was and continues to be "the people" on the trail. 

Today's email was a good thing. A reconnection again of one that has been somewhat regular.  Emails make it all easier. I got a phone call yesterday from an associate from years past from Utah who was asking for recollections of a very good friend from my collage days. The friends daughter was looking for some insight into her dads  life. Her dad had been my very good friend. He and another friend had a great deal of positive influence on me in collage. I miss them both.

Thoughts this Sunday Morning