The Emerald Rose

     Frank Sinatra,…a great singer,(even though he was before my age! REALLY!)

     So it’s Labor Day weekend, actually Monday the 7th, Labor Day itself. I won’t dwell on the collossal screw up our government has become, although I will go back to it in my political blog www.342chests.wordpress.com, because we need to before we lose our precious liberty.

      And no I won’t go on about my health, because I am and I thank the good Lord everyday for that.

     And no I won’t go spinning back to memory lane, because I cherish my memories and just can not convey on paper with the written word the nearness and deep personal levels which they mean to me, particularly as I get older.

     So what will I write about today, since that about covers my realm of writing since about 2005 or so?

     How about wisdom from an “old fart” getting passed to you “young whipper snappers”?  No! Most of you would dismiss it as the “ramblings” of an old fart.

     Well, since it leaves me kind of blank, I’ll simprly write a letter to my grandchildren, Morgan age 17 or so, and Ana age “almost 1”. Why them you ask? Well the probability of life is that unless I really hit a big Lottery Jackpot we will spend very little “face time” together. At 17 Morgan has her own life going, albeit after several “potholes” in the road, but I love her and reallythink she will become a super young lady, ( primarily thanks to her Mom.) She, like all “teen agers” wants to hang out with “Grandpa” about as much as getting bit by a thousand fire ants,…the really cool thing is that I understand. When I was that age I also had the same mindset. (Oh yeah, among the regrets was not getting a shitload of more history on my grandparents and their siblings, and learning about their struggles and decisions to move to this country from Ireland. (Near as I know three of the four Grandparents came to the U.S. from Ireland in the 1910-1916 years. The fourth was already here the son of immigrants who came in the 1880’s or so.)

        BIG regret #1 – not having spent that time and written up a legacy to pass on, a history, albeit mostly their histories, but my grandchildren don’t have a clue beyond me, where their heritage and history came from or was. I started researching years ago with my brother in law, but we seemed to spend a lot more “research time” on the history and facts of all the local pubs in the “old neighborhood”.

        And Ana, well, never met the young lady, for she lives in Utah with her Mom and Dad whom I see mostly through Facebook (one of the redeeming qualities of the “techy age”. My son and his wife love the outdoors, hiking, canoeing, snow skiing, you know all those things that are “alien” to me, so if I were closer, geographically, to them I would probablywind up saying “Have fun, stop by the Pub and pick me up on your way back, I got a heart condition you know,….can’t waste them heartbeats if I want to see you graduate.” (Yes I’m not proud of it, but withmy luck I’d drop in some God forsaken desolate area and be lunch for some wolf pack or grizzly bear before anyone noticed I wasn’t back yet, (unless they called the Pub and found out I hadn’t been in for a week already!)

       Regret #2  Not being more physically active and “into” the beauty and creation around us on this big blue marble we call earth. All my fault though, I chose to spend all my teen time in Drum & Bugle Corps, (Which I would not trade for a million dollars, since it’s where I met my wife, where I had at least four or five years of “intense” physical workouts at least five days a week, and a serious “I CAN DO THIS, AND I AM A SURVIVOR” get through anything attitude, and I have to believe that at least strengthened my heart enough that I made it this far before this years CABG, and ECA (medical lingo for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft and my most recent plumbing adjustment the Exterior Carotid Artery rotor router job. I’m 99% sure that’s all she wrote until I have “the big one” down the road a few decades from now) So I’m just living life the best I know how and trying to a) get in better shape, and b) stay there.

        But listen Morgan, and you too Ana, my advise? Sample every little thing in life you can, love can be around any corner, joy on every vision, and memories that never fade,….ever! I guess I subscribe to the “life is like a buffet dinner” philosophy of life. None of us get out of life alive, and no matter how you think you can now, you can;t take it with you.

       Do what you enjoy, onlyNEVER endanger others, and never endanger yourself, at least not unduly. (Skiing Black Diamond trails like your Dad, Jay,….now that was dumb, but I guess God thought he was good enough that he came through it ok)

        Beware of your very freedoms in this world and NEVER let anyone take them away, or substitute them for you. (MY generation is now living under the cloud where someone other than God may be making decisions for the continuance of life,….let it not be you, that is wrong!)

        THINK, always THINK, not just about school, life, tests, boys, etc. think about what you can give back to this life, and this world, how can you maybe make it easier for others, or kinder and gentler for others.

        REGRET #3 – I could have, and should have, given back more to this world, but I have tended to be very selfish about that, and it really is a regret, particularly after this past year and all the folks I ran into during my “medical journeys” who were volunteering. I am going to make a concerted effort this winter to do some of that myself. Having a guy I personally knew who was a millionaire, helping me into a wheelchair and wrapping the hospital wrist band on me when I could hardly take a breath and making sure someone was there in less than two minutes and took care of me at 8 o’clock in the evening,well,….he didn’t have to be there, in fact there were probably fifty other places he could have been, but he was a volunteer and working a “night shift” so people who needed help got it,….Thanks Van!

       Well, as I’ve been mind flowing onto the blog, I’ve been making notes of things I have to do today on a pad of paper beside me. I better sign off or I’ll be up for 36 hours trying to get them all done.

      Love you kids, and all of you out there who read my blog, comment on it, write your own blogto share with the likes of me, and all who care,…. a new thing to us “baby boomers” but it should be what you take away from this and bring to your life.

      Grandpa Tom,(forget it I hate that title,…just Tom is fine withme, after all I’m not that old,….yet, but I WILL get there in better shape. (New note to self: get your ass to the gym today, walk three miles and get some strength training in,….Booyah!!)

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