Walk In The Park

"Reality is hard. It is no walk in the park, this thing called Life." ~ Patty Duke

Most of my days are spent working and not taking much time off from that work. It is a habit instilled in me from my days growing up on a farm in eastern Nebraska. At sun up before school, the chores had to be completed summer or winter. After school, after basketball practice or homework, the chores were to be done. All of this seven days a week, every day of the year.

When I went off to college, I had thought I no longer needed that discipline and into my second year of college that lack of discipline failed me. Poor grades and easing off on my own expectations gave me no choice but to leave school. It was then the reality of LIFE hit me hard. Much harder than if I had applied my father's work ethic from those years on the farm.

I was newly married and now a child on the way, no degree and in need of a paying job. It was at this point where I went back to those old learned habits of hard work and perseverance. I would say that opportunity and others taking a risk in me also played a part. So many years, now counting at 38 years which includes a most influential six years at the Nebraska Typewriter Company.

Typewriter repairman?

I say yes these days because to do so is much easier then the real explanation of what opportunity was afforded me by the Beaurivage family. It was these early days in which I applied myself the way my parents had taught me. But I did miss a few things along the way which is why the map is shown above. For many of those years I forgot that one must also take time to relax and enjoy LIFE.

This is not to say there have been no vacations or times of relaxing. What I am saying is that I failed to learn HOW to relax and enjoy. There are reasons for that and you would know of those reasons. Reasons you probably experience and reasons that simply cannot be unexplained in a logical sense. But I am learning and I am trying to figure out how to enjoy the LIFE given to me.

The map shows a part of that learning. It shows a boat ride from a marina to a state park where we spent three days. In earlier times I would have said that is a waste of time, too far and too crazy to take a boat nearly 25 miles. But we did it and what I experienced was the awe of how large this man-made lake is. A lake that hydrates nearly every person in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Our learning never ends.

It is an experience I could not have had driving the freeway or simply flying over on my way to another meeting. To feel the bump of the waves, the mist of water as it sprayed the air nor the excitement of finding your way. This was my few days of learning how to walk in the park. It was another step at finding ways to enjoy LIFE and all it can offer.

When I reflect upon the path we took on our boat journey, it reminded me of how I had gotten to where I am today. The twists, turns, ending up in the wrong inlet. Having to find my way back and to re-chart a way knowing all I had to do was keep looking, keep moving, and keep enjoying the ride.

And just maybe I am starting to learn how to enjoy a walk in the park.

Stay inspired my friends!