Life is just a series of recurring events. I guess that the challenge of life is that we need to keep moving through these events with the right attitude. I find that the real challenge of life. I am sure that there isn’t anything new to anyone in that, but at the same time I feel that somehow the secret to life is being able to manage the game. I just need to be able to do a better job of it.
Well, today was a real roller coaster ride. I was working on trying to get a loan closed during the day. In the morning I came to work and it was supposed to be ready to close. I then came to realize that it had all blown up, over a newspaper article. Then I had thought that since it was dead, I would go to other meetings.
Then, things changed again over night, or so it seemed. All of a sudden, the loan was on again. I was in a roller coaster for the second time of the day. I got it closed, but it was not without it’s stress and affects. I am so tired of that.
They say that global warming is upon us. Maybe, I don’t know. However, I can tell you that we have seen a huge swing in temperature in the last two weeks. No more than two weeks ago, we had very cold temperatures reflective of what time of year it really is. It is still winter, and shouldn’t we have winter still. We did, until a few days ago. Now, it is close to 70 outside and the snow pack is melting. I am also concerned for some of my agricultural customers, who if the trees wake up and then we have a freeze this could prove to be a disaster. It is a strange time we live in, this time of global warming.
Back in October 2006 I wrote an entry to this blog about a song by James Taylor that I really love. It always has a way of coming back and hitting me between the eyes as I cross another threshold in my life’s journey. I have recently been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, a heart condition where the beat of the heart is irregular. This, along with my having been diagnosed as a diabetic 2 years ago continually reminds me of just how convoluted this journey of life is. It is fraught with all kinds of surprises, twists and turns, and it reminds of our own mortality. Of course, I want to preach to the younger generation and warn them of behaviors that will lead them to the end, faster than other roads. Despite that urge, I do find that music brings me solace when life becomes challenging, and it reminds me of just how wonderful this journey called life is. I love this song from James Taylor. He has been through a lot himself, and he brings some wisdom to this journey called life.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time
Any fool can do it
There ain’t nothing to it
Nobody knows how we got to
The top of the hill
But since we’re on our way down
We might as well enjoy the ride
The secret of love is in opening up your heart
It’s okay to feel afraid
But don’t let that stand in your way no
‘Cause anyone knows that love is the only road
And since we’re only here for a while yeah
Might as well show some style
Give us a smile now
Isn’t it a lovely ride
Sliding down
And gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride
Now the thing about time is that time
Isn’t really real
It’s all on your point of view
How does it feel for you
Einstein said that he could never understand it all
Planets spinning through space
The smile upon your face
Welcome to the human race
Isn’t that a lovely ride
Sliding down
Gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride
Isn’t that a lovely ride
Oh mama yes
See me sliding down
And gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride
Now the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time
I had to go into a hospital in Provo yesterday for a test, and it’s lucky that I am came out alive. It wasn’t the test that was the problem, it was finding the place to take the test in the first place. Why is it that hospitals seem to grow up with all kinds of weird architecture, and with sections so convaluted in organization that it takes you longer to find the place than it does to take the test. What if I had been having a stroke, or a heart attack, and couldn’t find the emergency room. It was frustrating trying to find this place, and when I got there, no hospital employee. Well, I guess I shouldn’t complain, they probably charged me a fortune for the test to pay for the crazy layout of the building. I am glad it was just a test.
I sometimes think it would be better to just let us die rather than live. I went in for an appointment today which ended up leading to some medical tests that the doctor would like to have done to “eliminate” possible problems or concerns. The problem is, the cost of the procedures bankrupts you and makes the quality of life for us that live barely palatable.
I sometimes think it would be better to let us all get sick and just die when it was our time. Well, that might cut down the average life expectancy from 76 to 30, but, what the heck. We live, and then we die. It would certainly solve the high cost of living. All I know is that my body is slowly going down the drain. I can’t keep the thing repaired fast enough to satisfy me.
I had an experience last night at the Energy Solutions arena that reflects one that I had at Coors Field in Denver. That is, I had tickets that were courtside at the mid-court. I had to take a customer and we had just excellent seats. You could almost shake hands with the players. It was the Jazz versus the Bobcats. The Jazz just swamped em.
The same type of experience happened once in Denver when Michael and I went to a ball game at Coors Field. Because of a mistake on the part of the club, Michael and I had a seat at home plate directly behind the umpire and catcher. It was a fun experience then too, and the home team won that time too. I really enjoyed myself.
Was downstairs this afternoon, looking at the collection of Pinball games in my basement. It might be a sign of my age that I remember so well rock opera by the group called “The Who”. In it of course is the song Pinball Wizard. I loved that song, and of course, makes me think of my son Chris, who is he Pinball Wizard (along with all the other children) in our house.
The Who
Elton John
To our pinball wizards.
Sitting in front of the congregation has some advantages. Well, for instance, you are a lot closer to the speakers so it isn’t hard to hear them. You get to look into everyone’s smiling faces so you get to know them better and they, I believe, get to know you. Most of the time it means you know what is going on in the church.
However, there is one drawback. On a day like today, when you had a night like last night, it can be a real struggle. Last night, because of what I suspect to be a recurring ulcer now bothering me, I didn’t really sleep too well. In fact, you might say I was really tired today. There I sit, in front of everyone, with my first and greatest desire being to close my eye lids and let my body rest. That ain’t a good thing to do in front of the congregation, and usually also leads to new versions of family lore and laughter regarding dad going to sleep in church. I have to be careful each week to make sure that I don’t make a fool of myself.
We went to a reception tonight. Afterward, we went to pick up my parents to take them out to dinner. While parked in the driveway waiting for them, the moon, an almost full moon, came up over the mountain peaks to the east. It was so beautiful. We were supposedly earlier that day supposed to have experienced a lunar eclipse and I just marveled at the beauty of that heavenly body.
It made me also think back to 1969. I stood and looked at a moon that day too. It was July 20, 1969, and man had just, for the first time, landed on the moon. Man was walking on the moon. It is now almost 40 years since that happened. I couldn’t believe that we had made it then, and I still don’t believe it now. However, I was there, watching, real live as a man stepped onto the face of the moon. That minute will be forever frozen in my mind.