I recently celebrated my 54th birthday, and frankly, it weighed upon me the enormousness of the age “thing”. I remember when I was much younger, I dreaded becoming 25 years old. To me, when you are 18, 25 seems such an old age. Being 25 meant at the time that I could not continue to live like a little kid, and I really dreaded getting there. On my 25th birthday, I was very depressed. Then my mother called me up to tell me she had spoken with another family member, and during the conversation I realized that I was not 25 but 26! The depression became a heavy mantle that weighed so much on me and lasted several weeks. Even now, I clearly remember those feelings. Now that I’m 54 (or 55, depending on how you look at it), I have a renewed sense of those feelings. The exception is that I feel REALLY old – but much wiser. I have been able to accomplish most of the things I set out to do – and also completed some that I did not intend to do, but did along the way. For example, I got to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, thanks to the U.S. army. I got to travel most of the U.S. I’ve seen many good things – and many bad things. I finished college – that was pretty neat. And along my life’s journey, I picked up a lot of wisdom, that I have tried to pass along to my children. It is they who are my inspiration and the reason why I and every single old geezer like me, lives for. Nothing like children to make you old pretty quick. I met Roberto Clemente, my hero. At the time I did not know he was going to be so famous, and I didn’t even get his autograph. Some things are not revealed to you until much later in life. For example, had I stayed in the military as I had so much wanted when I was there, I would not had met my wife, who lived all of her young life nearby and never met her until we worked together. Her brother and my brother were friends, and my best friend was best friends with her. I even went to my best friend’s sister’s quince and she was there! How much neater can that be? Life is a chain of events, and I’ve come to learn that every decision has a consequence, whether you choose the right decision, the wrong decision, or no decision at all. God has a plan, and whether you like it or not, He will make sure you follow that plan.



So for those who read this, I have an advise: like the movie quote says, “get busy livin’ or get busy dyin”, because life still goes on, whether you are in it or not.