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.