BACKGROUND - I think there is a lot to be said about both Nature and Nurture in everyone. I know that I have to be careful about diabetes and just how crazy I am is left to be discovered. Chances are that I will die older than my Dad but just how much older is again an unknown. I am pretty sure that I am not Bi-Polar like my dad was but does anyone really know? I have discovered that this crapshoot I call life is full of strange moments and outcomes. I am a Baby Boomer and was born when my Dad got home from the Pacific. Don't feel sorry for him, he spent the war at Barbers Point, Honolulu, Hawaii fixing airplanes for the Navy. Where he was doesn't mean anything, it just was where he was. The point is that I am 67 years old, retired and both my parents are dead. I have a wonderful wife and son who has his version of a wonderful wife.
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| Summer of 1948. One of the last times I was not at a dead run |
I have always been a little headstrong. (Ya Think?) I am not sure why, but I seem to have my own drummer and based on a lot of good things that have gone right in my life, I think I have the ability to solve problems and thing fast on my feet. Judging from the inability to remember the smallest details sometimes, I am on the back side of that ability. In the Military, they have a term called the Military Crest of the hill. That was the highest point you can get without standing above the skyline. That gives you the maximum view and you won't be seen. I always felt that I was right there and had a pretty good view of the events in my life. I find that I have moved to the other side of the hill now and am not in complete defilade, Yet. If I had to say what I think it was that helped me the most, it was that I was a money hungry little kid and would do anything for money (Well, almost) I was never afraid of hard work and loved the rewards that came with money.
I have read a lot about the order of your position in the arrival of brothers and sisters and how that tends to make you a different person based on that rank. My sisters were 6 and 5 years older and I think I grew up without the close friendship that my wife had with her brother and sisters. I don't remember seeing much of them as they were always steps ahead of me in school. By the time I started elementary school they were almost Junior High and gone from home when I started High School. I do have very fond memories of learning to read with their help. My sister Carol also so loved to sing that I'm sure that had a big influence on my love of singing. I think on the rank order being where I stood was a lot more like a first child than a middle child. I grew up pretty independent and busy.
I think I need to throw in a short segment about the women I have loved in my life. Who doesn't have the warm memories of their mother. Mine was the "Earth Mother" to all of us. If she hugged you, you felt hugged all the rest of the day. My sisters were a positive influence in my life and made girls a lot less hard to understand. My first girl friend had to be Lollie, my best friend's sister. My little brother was five year younger and In my world was "Just a kid." I moved on to older women in school and there was Janet who was one of the prettiest and smartest girls I ever knew. Way out of my league and I don't think I ever held her hand. There was a short fling with Sheila and Connie but both were not in my life at the right time or place. I thought that Donna was the one but I think I never trusted her in my Heart of Hearts. She was fun but not one that really made me really evaluate where I wanted to be in my life. While I won't tell you that I have always understood my wife, I know that she is on the path to doing the right things right. I have loved her since 1968 and will try my hardest to keep it that way.
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| Mom and Why Dad fell in Love with her. |
On the negative side, I think I have always had the ability to loose myself in things and can often get to the end of the day and wonder what the hell I did that killed that day. I had to use a "Day Runner" as a Colonel in the Army. I found that spending 15 minutes to realistically plan the next day helped me at least aim my day. Having been a Military Planner most of my time did give a realistic understanding that Plans often are only a Guide and they last until the proverbial first bullet flies. I grew up with the thought that the 70% solution done in a timely manner often had a better result that actions that take forever to get that mythical 100% solution. There is a "analysis paralysis" that can just freeze all your good intentions if you try to get perfect. Today I think a few moments with the wife asking "What's on your agenda today" is almost as good as a written plan. There is a little hesitancy in telling her I plan on goofing off all day, but I think she understands a lot more than I sometimes give her credit for. This is especially true if we both worked hard the day before.
END RESULT I am not sure how others feel when they finally retire but I am darned glad to be where I am. Due to some great planning and a lot of luck, I have the financial assets to do almost anything we want to do. I always try to have a few things on my bucket list but I find them aimed more at others now than I did earlier in my life. My mother said one time, "If I can wear it or eat it, I don't need it." I understand that a lot more now than I ever did. In fact, I have started putting things on my reverse bucket list. I do not ever plan on roller skating again. I am pretty sure that snow or water skiing is also no longer planned. I am nearing the time where I am more inclined to pay someone to work on my car that do it myself. (Says a man with a truck in the driveway needing a starter) I do find myself looking at the problem solving model with an hard look at "Smarter not Harder."
Right now, my hobbies include singing as often as I can, writing this blog and keeping everything moving that needs to move. I know that I mentioned the 70% solution I mentioned earlier will get you a "D" in school but doesn't "D" stand for Denny? Just a short note, I wasn't the best student in school and I got a lot od D's. I think the teachers didn't want to have me again the next year and kept me moving up the pipeline out of self preservation. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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| I had Barbara Take this and I'm sure that I was trying to tell her how to do it. Yes, I know it isn't a Selfie if someone else takes it. |
MUD
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for not showing up in quite awhile.
With the high readership, and almost total lack of comments, it has been tough to know who has been here or not. Glad to have you back and thanks for the comment.
ReplyDelete