Taking Stock...

Have been doing a lot of thinking. Taking stock in what really matters I guess. Your family, your friends, you life. How many times have you seen someone who doesn't say there is something wrong, but you feel it? How many times would a pat on the back or a hug make so much a difference? How many times have you needed it and it just wasn't there? How many times have you smiled and it made someones day? How many times has just being you or them being them made all the difference. What about a stupid one liner doing more good than a pound of medicine?

This week is my 15th anniversary. I would not trade my wife for the world....although she says I probably want a new model sometimes to replace the one I have. I tell her no. I love her and my kids with all my heart. We met a long time ago...then married a long time later...now it has been even longer. Try 25 years...

Next week is my 43rd birthday. I don't really feel any different than I did last year, or ten years ago in some ways. I thank God for my health and the ability get going every day. Hope can get together with some friends over a meal soon and talk about old times or something...maybe that is what you do when you get older. Maybe the things you say matter more or maybe less. Maybe you say them so you won't forget. As a line in a song I like says it is like a box of souvenirs if only to prove you were there....maybe someone will remember and hold onto that memory for another time to pull it out and dust off to remind everyone of how much they mean.

I also thank God for my friends. Some are better friends than others, but they still all mean a lot to me. I relish the times when we have done things and sat around drinking coffee cutting up. Those are the things memories are made of. I may not say what needs to be said all the time, sometimes I say too much. I sometimes let words get in the way and emotions spill all over the floor like milk. Sorry for my indiscretions and over sites. I pray that God will use me in my friends lives to uplift them when they need it. Maybe I think too much....I don't know. I just know that there are friends I haven't seen or heard from, friends I miss, friends I've wronged...and I wish I could do more to fix, love and comfort.

Twenty years from now what will we look back and see. I don't know. Scares me to think about it. But I hope my love for my family, friends and God will keep me glued together.
Just the early morning rambling of an old geezer I guess. :)