Look at Tomorrow ( #AtoZChallenge )

Looking at yesterday I'm thankful for places I've been and people I have known, but as I look at today I feel a bit stalled though still having hope as I look at tomorrow...



     Look At Tomorrow

         Life could always be worse and fortunately for me I don't think it ever has been for me.  After all I'm still here so I guess that counts for something.  Writing a memoir is something I work on continually whether it be actually writing or just thinking about my life.  That life has been a good one as far as I'm concerned.

         Still I'm not going to be content to just relax from now on while resting on my laurels.  Life is nowhere near the end for me as far as I'm concerned.  My days on this Earth could end anytime, but this has always been the case.  No point on dwelling on an end of things as I know them.  Life goes on for me for many more years I hope. 

          Looking at tomorrow I see dreams fulfilled and new adventures discovered.  I might be slowed down as years pass, but that slowing down allows me to savor the journey if I wish.  There are still new places to visit and people to meet.  There are music, books, and art yet for me to discover.  Grandchildren to watch grow and my own children to see flourish in their own lives.

           Life is worth living so I want to take advantage of as much as I can.   In some hopefully distant tomorrow I'll have plenty of time to be dead.  For now though, I'm continuing to look toward tomorrow and smile at the riches it sends my way...

          Are you generally optimistic about the future?   Is your life better now than it was when you were a younger adult?    What big things do you still want to accomplish in your life?

Future Is Now ( #AtoZChallenge )

Future is a destination.  It's a destination that once we've reached it, it's gone.  But then there is the future that lies after that, and after that, always coming toward us to only pass us by continually...





Future Is Now

       From now on my past is behind me, not to be forgotten, but to be celebrated when the time to do so is proper.  The future has always held a draw for me.  Maybe it's something to do with a will to survive.  I'm always interested to know what lies around the next corner, what I will find in the next mile.  The future calls to me.

       I'm listening...


       How big are your plans for the future?  Does your future seem bleak?    What is a big thing you expect or hope to find around some future corner? 

Destination Somewhere ( #AtoZChallenge )

Don't know exactly where I'm going, but the destination is really a cumulative collection of destinations with each one leading to another...






Destination Somewhere

        When I started formulating my A to Z theme I tossed out something about future goals or maybe where I am now as opposed to where I want to be someday.   Sounds a bit pretentious perhaps for someone on the cusp of seventy years old.   Really?  Seventy?   That's a destination in itself, but I don't want to be stopping there.  If I had stopped anywhere in time maybe it would have been when I was thirty--or maybe ten.

         But it's not in my purview regarding this theme of future or goals or destinations.   My past is always with me somehow, but the future becomes questionable, even complicated.  How can we say what we are going to definitely do tomorrow let alone next year or ten years from now?   Most of us know that saying about the journey being better than getting to wherever you're going.  Or at least something to that effect.  That journey is the main thing.

          "Quo Vadis?" or "Where are you going?" is the famous question that Peter asked Jesus according to Christian tradition.  Likewise it is the question that I have often asked myself and continue to do so.   It's a logical question for any of us to ask ourselves whether it be in a practical short term sense or the more esoteric future sense.

           I am not afraid or concerned about my journey to come.   After all it's the similar travel decision that we all face even though it might entail never leaving home.  We are all going somewhere.  Where are you heading my dear reader?

          How much do you plan out your future with the absolute expectation that the outcome will be as you envisioned?   When have your past plans been sidetracked?   Where do you hope to find yourself in ten years?








 

Quest for the Future ( #AtoZChallenge )

Quick question:  Do you have a dream that you have set out to achieve even though others tell you it will never work?...

Maybe someday?

           Those explorers who discovered new lands and the pioneers who blazed the trails of those lands are a lot to be admired.  That's my view at least.  Some in our time will criticize their motivations and the eventual outcome of the actions taken by those who came before, but who are we to criticize that which came before we were even born?  Whatever happened happened and no one can change that now.  What is now is what it is and we are given the baton to carry in the next leg of the race.  Without exception, we are all running the race into whatever lies ahead.  Now it is our turn to head onward to that ongoing quest for the future.

         We're all getting to our futures by our own devices.  We each have our own dreams, plans, and expectations.  Throughout my entire life I've been on my own quest for the future.  Not that I'm like Christopher Columbus or Cabeza de Vaca (there's a story!), but I am on an adventure like any one of us--a life adventure. 

           Call me crazy, but I'm not the first person with a big dream.  My dream is essentially the same dream that I've pursued for as far back as I can remember.  Maybe I didn't always understand what my dream was or maybe now I've become a bit delusional.  I don't think so.  What I see ahead is real, tangible, and absolutely possible.

            The biggest obstacle will be convincing others that I am dreaming a possible dream.  However, an equally big obstacle will be my ability to convey my dreams to others in a meaningful manner that sparks a fire within them to share my dream.

          To be on a quest for the future is a plan of action.  It beats just sitting back in my easy chair waiting for each tomorrow to come and go.  I do believe that we all have a potential to make dreams happen and even if we don't realize the prize ourselves, at least we can help start blazing the trail that will get someone else there.

            The future is the only option we have on a life journey.  I want to try to claim my part of that future.  The past will help get me there as will the present.  My road doesn't have to be a lonely one because there are many who want to go where I'm going.  The way ahead is an open road filled with possibilities.

          Have you ever fallen back on old skills or contacts to help you embark on a career course change?  Are you easily discouraged when others scoff at what you believe to be good ideas?  Is there a time when you've overcome rejection and ridicule to become successful at something others thought you'd never achieve?

Living Life ( #AtoZChallenge )

Life is the most important gift we will ever receive.  It's one of those gifts that keeps on giving if we are willing to accept it and if we aren't willing then the gift of life keeps on giving anyway.  Appreciate the gift by living life...

          My April posts are looking at my life not only as it was, but as it is and where it might go in the future.   I like my life most of the time and even when I'm not liking it so much, I tend to not hang on to the bad things as much as look forward to the next good things and, more importantly, appreciate the good things that are right in front of me.

         There have been a few dark times in my life when I thought it might be nice to cash in my chips and drop out of the game.  Those times never lasted long thankfully.  They were passing phases of dealing with loss or disappointments.  Then I'd see the sun shining, hear the birds singing, and sense the good all around me.  It's always best when the good expunges the evil.

          No point in letting other people, bad circumstances, or anything else drag me down.  I've got a lot to live for in respect to my dreams and experiences yet to be had.  And of course there are my grandchildren.  I want to live life because there is so much still to live for...

Four of my NJ grandchildren after Marley (in sunglasses) performed at a concert.

          To repeat the mantra of our late A to Z Blog Team leader Tina Downey, "Life is good!"   I tell myself that often.  I must be convincing because I believe it: Life is good and living life the best we can is a good thing to do. 

          I plan to be living life for the rest of my life which I hope is a long time to come. 

          2051 here I come!

          Have you ever considered just giving up in life?   Do you think the value of life is lessened when the quality goes down?    What keeps you focused on goals ahead of you (even if you don't know exactly what those goals are yet)?

When (#atozchallenge)

       Though it's often good to know when something is going to occur, sometimes there is no clear answer.  Occasionally there is no answer at all.




When

       I'm not particularly fond of uncertainty.  If something is supposed to happen then I like to know the time and place so I can be ready for it.  In most cases, knowing when is essential if you are coordinating with others.  Not knowing when can lead to being too early, too late, or not even considering being anywhere at all.

      Then there are those ambiguous whens.  There is the unspecified anticipation that something will happen someday but we just don't know when.  We might have some vague idea or perhaps no idea whatsoever.   When might be dependent on our meeting some other prerequisite.  On the other hand, that time we are waiting for might be in the hands of someone else.  When might even be a function of natural or spiritual forces coming together at the right time--or the wrong time.

       If you know when something will happen then you can try to be ready for it.  Not that you will be ready, but at least you have that option to try.  We now know when A to Z will happen because it's called the April Challenge.  Christmas, Halloween, or U.S. Independence Day have their dates predetermined so that we can make plans before those days arrive.

       Fortunately, time is organized for us so that we can prepare for when.  That is if we know precisely when is.  Otherwise we can ready ourselves for those ambiguities such as when the big one hits, when the power goes out, or when we are facing nuclear attack.  Those with foresight might even put a plan B or plan C or even more contingencies into place.  Not many of us probably even have a first option set up.  Of course we all know how any plan can go astray.

        Hopefully, whatever happens, the government will take care of us. At least we like to think that the government has a plan for just about anything when it happens.  When it does.  When...

        Do you have any contingency plans set up for emergencies or disasters?    Do you like to improvise actions for unprepared occurrences?   If you had a fifteen minute warning of an impending nuclear strike, what would you do?






     

The Road Ahead (#IWSG) and #BOTB results

      Do you ever wonder where the hell you're going?    I've never liked traveling without a map--or these days my GPS--and yet I often forge ahead through life with few or no long range plans.  Seems crazy I suppose, but then again I avoid the disappointment of plans that get screwed up.  

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 




In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what's your plan to get there?

         This question ties in with the question asked in my previous post, What Does Retirement Look Like For You?   Since I am retired now, any thoughts of a future writing career are certainly tied into my life in retirement as it is. 

          Then there is a question of will I be around in five years?  I live with the intent of going strong for many years to come, but then I look at my father who suddenly left his life before he even actually retired from his job.  I don't think he was planning on such a quick earthly departure, but it happened to him just as it can unpredictably happen to me, you, or anyone. 

        Do I have a writing career ahead of me?  Will I even still be blogging if I reach that five years in question?  My life strategy has been to not have much of a strategy.  I live, I learn, I forget, and tomorrow comes before I realize that today has passed and yesterdays are distant memories that are more like pages from a book than any actual life I've lived.  

        I've lived a life worth living and continue onward as though it will never end.  There are few plans for me other than I plan to have fish for dinner tonight, have company coming over for dinner on Saturday, and in a couple of weeks my kids and grandkids are coming to visit for Christmas.  But that latter plan seems like a long time right now.  Five years is forever, but it is also like a blink of an eye.

        Perspectively speaking, I'm lousy at writing as a business.  And sadly in a way, I don't particularly have much concern about it.  Happily, I have a contentment with life and an optimism for the good things ahead, if not in this world, in the infinite eternity of God's grace.  

         I'll write as the spirit moves me and if writing success is somewhere in the years ahead then that is exactly what was meant to be.  For now though, the spirit is moving me to clean the kitchen and straighten up my office.   Then after a good night's sleep tonight, I'll look forward to another great day of being alive.  

Battle of the Bands Results

      In some ways my previous Battle using the song "Scandinavian Shuffle" provided a somewhat unexpected outcome. But then maybe it should not have been any real surprise.  I think both versions that I used are extremely good.  My dilemma of choosing a favorite is so difficult that I'm tempted to forego making the choice at all.  And either way I choose would be of no consequence to the outcome of this highly lopsided contest.   Therefore I'm going to go with the big winner which was the vocal ensemble Real Group.  

       I'm usually partial to violin music, but I do enjoy a good a cappella group.   So did most of the voters in this Battle...

Final Vote Tally

Real Group         18 votes

Mads Tolling         4 votes

Next Battle on Thursday December 15th

       In my next Battle I'll be staying within the Christmas spirit without resorting to actual Christmas songs.  You'll probably be familiar with the song I'll be using which may or may not be derived from another musical piece with which you may not be familiar.  However before we get to that Battle I'll be continuing with a couple more posts in my President Trump Acclimation Series--yes, I'm continuing with this as long as I keep seeing silliness online, on television, and elsewhere.  Wow, that could be a long, long time.   Then again I might just get fed up and move into the wilderness, off the grid, and surviving off the land.   Probably not, but you never know.

        What do you foresee in your life five years from now?  Are you a careful planner or do you just live relatively randomly?    Are you optimistic about the coming year?

       

Are You Ready to Change Your Plans?

Bower Hill Plantation, West Bretton. These gates were to the Bretton Estate. There are plans to change the designation of this footpath to a road. Bellavista Plantation to the left (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." -- Joseph Campbell, American writer and mythologist        One of the biggest problems with planning ahead is that there are always forces lying in wait to screw things up for us.  It might be the weather, a health crisis, or some other unforeseen thing that broadsides us unexpectedly.  Back-up plans are always advised, but sometimes there is nothing else we can do other than accept what has come our way and adapt in order to continue on with our lives.         The alteration of little plans is inconsequential to us.  It's those big expectations that we formulate in our minds--plans for schooling, career, marriage, and family.    Dreams can be dashed or they may fade away, but when those dreams have  become plans and expectations we stride forward toward the goals we envision.  When a roadblock is put in our path, we have to make decisions.   We might even have to change our precious plans.          Using marriage as an example, most who sincerely go into this union are unlikely to do so with the expectations that it will be dissolved in some matter of time.  The typical couple will probably declare a love for one another and, if traditional vows are recited, will declare that love to the world as well as the intention to continue that love until death separates the two.           Over time people change and attitudes change accordingly.  There are times when the relationships are unable to weather those changes and the plans that were made or mentally assumed are disrupted.  Or even death can intervene to wreck the life that we were planning for the future.  A true permanency of human relationships is not something we can always count on.   No matter how strong our own sense of commitment might be, we might not be able to do anything at all to make things right as we see what we think should be right.          The examples in marriage can be applied to any other plans.  Your job.  Your educational pursuits.  The aspirations of fulfilling your dreams.  We cannot write our lives in words that hold any guarantees.  Our lives are written with words of hope and not promises.   Change can come at any time in our lives and the inevitability is that life will change--everyday, sometimes in imperceptible ways and at others with feelings of catastrophic doom.             We can't change where we've already been, but we can make route adjustments if the road is blocked or our destination is changed.    If we don't keep moving forward then we aren't going anywhere.           I'll be frank about my promotional intentions.  This post is a clue hinting toward my song choice for my Battle of the Bands post this coming Saturday November 15.   I'll admit that the song I'm using will be no piece of cake to guess, but the perceptive reader might be able to guess, especially anyone who knows this song I'll be using.   Here's another big hint:   The album the song originally comes from is named after a city.             Do you agree with Joseph Campbell's quote?    Are you a person who easily lets go or do you tend to fight to the finish even if the battle seems hopeless?      Can you guess the song I'll be using in my next BOTB post?    The artist? Tomorrow November 13th!  Big announcement at the A to Z Blog!     Be sure to visit a-to-zchallenge.com tomorrow and everyday!

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Halloween: What Are Your Plans for Your Dead Body?

 Body Worlds anatomy exhibition. Exhibition of corpses which have been through Plastination, by Professor Gunther von Hagens.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

          As I grow older my thoughts sometimes pass upon what's going to happen after I've died?   And before anyone gets any ideas, no I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon and I hope to be around for many more years to come.  It's just that as time passes we see people pass away from our lives.   Death is all around us--always has and always will be.  After all death is a natural part of life and it comes to us all.

         Today I'm asking you if you have a plan for when you die.  I'm not talking about wills, life insurance, or any of the arrangements we might make to take care of loved ones or to preserve our legacy. And I'm not referring to any spiritual or theological aspects regarding death.

         What do you want to happen to your body?

         Most people still probably consider the traditional graveyard burial route with a casket, one or more funeral home events, a procession to a cemetery with accompanying graveside service, and placement of the body in a grave with a headstone or grave marker.  This is one of  the most expensive routes to go.

         Lesser priced alternative methods of disposing of the earthly shell are cremation or burial at sea.   These typically cost less than the funeral with casket route, but they still come at a price.  Some more unorthodox choices might include donating one's body to a medical school, allowing the company that puts on the Body Worlds shows to take possession of your corpse, or offering up your body to decay for observational study purposes at a university "Body Farm".

          Death is going to come to us all eventually.  Most of us don't like to think about it much and many of us don't make the arrangements for disposing of our bodies.   Death is usually unpleasant for everyone concerned and leaving arrangements in the hands of those we have left behind might not be the best decision.

          My stepfather George made all of the arrangements for his burial a few years prior to his becoming sick and passing away.   There were few decisions to be made after he died and everything was paid for beforehand.  In fact he was so thorough in making all of the financial arrangements that my mother received a refund from the funeral home because George had paid extra money just in case it was needed.  I respected George tremendously for the way he handled everything concerning his departure from this Earth.

        What to do about my own death is something I seriously consider.   Oh, I still plan to live until I'm 156, but then again my expectations may be off a bit.   I don't want to burden those I leave behind, and I don't especially want to spend a bundle that I could use while I'm alive just to have some fancy arrangement that won't mean anything to me, you know, being dead and all.

        Halloween conjures thoughts of death among other things.  I'm just thinking and don't mean to put a damper on this festive day.  But it's probably something we should all think about before the time comes.

          Have you made plans for your own death arrangements?   Have you been faced with making plans for a loved one at the difficult time of their demise?   How would you prefer to deal with your corpse after you've died?

          Sorry for the morbidity, but it's Halloween.  This post is a big clue as to what song I'll be using in my Battle of the Bands match-up which will appear on Tossing It Out tomorrow Saturday November 1st.  It's a hit from the 70's that is directly related to the topic of today's post.    Can you guess the song?


         

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Looking At Our Futures

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~Author Unknown




my career plans

        I don't guess I ever really worried that much about my future when I was young, but I did think about it.  I dreamed, pondered, and planned.   When I was in junior high, Mr. Dinsmore, my social studies teacher gave us an assigned project to research our five top career choices.  Each student was required to prepare a report of the requirements and preparation necessary to achieve our careers, expected financial outcomes, job descriptions, and any other relevant facts related to our career choices.

         My choices, in order of most preferred to least, were professional entertainer, musician, writer, photographer, and teacher.  By my senior year of high school, though these choices were still part of my dreams, I decided to attend university and major in psychology with the intent of being a psychologist of some sort.  After the first year I switched my major to English and started leaning toward a teaching career. I also began writing, submitting, and getting rejections.  It seemed I was on my way to becoming a professional student.

The Real World of Work

          Eventually as best laid plans will often go, I dropped out of school as I was nearing graduation.  As fate would have it, or dreams would materialize, I began working with a touring show as a performer.  Though I had grown up working in professional entertainment with my family, I was now working on my own as a paid performer. Future dream number one accomplished.

           After a couple years I was married and got off the road to await the birth of our first child, settling temporarily in Richmond, Virginia.  While there, I was hooked up with a dinner theater where the show director discovered I played violin, which was exactly what they were trying to find for an upcoming show.  I had to join the musicians union and I began playing nightly in a musical called "The Robber Bridegroom".   Dream number two had been attained.

            For the next decade I continued as a performer and manager of a touring theatrical company called "World of Fantasy Players".   I was living my dreams in the most wonderful way.  Then I spent another nearly twenty years as a manager of a distribution company, which turned out to be a near perfect job for raising my daughters and being able to play an active role in their lives.

            Currently I'm at least writing, but yet to have anything truly notable published.  I am immersed in writing again like I had been in college.  So I am working on that dream now.  I also take pictures now and then to put on my blog posts--okay maybe that's a stretch, but it wasn't my biggest dream.  I did a stint of substitute teaching years ago in Tennessee.  I at least had a taste and who knows what the future holds on that one.

             If there is any point to any of this I guess it's that dreams of childhood can often become realities if we keep thinking about them.  I guess I'd go as far to say they will become realities to some extent if we maintain focus.  I still dream about my future even though I'm heading towards sixty.  Why not? The future keeps coming and I'm not going to stop it.  Might as well plan for tomorrow as long as I'm thinking about it.

What's Your Plan?

           Are you doing anything like what you dreamed about when you were a kid?  What changed after you graduated from high school?   Or if you're still in school, what are you doing to get ready for your future?  Do you plan your life much or do you just basically take each day as it comes?   What are the dreams that you once had that you don't think you'll ever fulfill?   Do you tend to worry about your future?

Taking the Right Path

"Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. "
Jeremiah 31:21 (New International Version)

          Back in my college days many of my friends and I were unsure as to where we were going in life. We signed up for classes with no distinct plan in mind other than to avoid the draft and not be sent to Viet Nam. My days were often spent attending classes and getting by with the minimal amount of effort. Nights carried on late as we gathered in idleness with philosophical ruminations and foolish chatter.

          On one of those nights I proposed an idea. I asked my companions what if we were to walk out the door and begin walking into the night in a westerly direction and continue to walk in as straight of a course as we could possibly maintain. I enthusiastically began to attempt to convince them that we should do it at that moment with no further consideration. We laughed about the idea until the end of the evening when we departed company.

        The idea persisted in my mind into the following day as I imagined the adventure and the feeling of escape from the rut in which I had been stuck. However, as I dreamed on, the realities begin to take hold. On such an endeavor one would encounter many obstacles like private property, barricades, rivers, and mountains. I imagined myself in the dark of night crossing a cow pasture and becoming ensnarled in a barbed wire fence. I shook off the fantasy and realized I had been excited about an unrealistic pipedream.

         In the real world, others have already blazed most of the trails that we have the option of taking in life. On our life journeys there are usually clearly marked paths that we can follow. When there aren't we need to research how we are getting where we plan to go. Some of us fret and worry about an unknown future when we can rationally solve many of our apprehensions by reasoning and study. Fretting about the future at the expense of not getting anything done in the present is a waste of valuable time. An old proverb states, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." You will be unprepared for the future if you do nothing about it today.

        Some of us are so lost in the hurts and regrets of the past that we have a difficult time coping with the future, let alone planning for the days ahead. Memories of past traumas can be painful, but they can be dealt with successfully. As difficult as it might be, if we truly want to progress in our lives, we must let go of whatever it is that holds us back. The journey can be difficult enough without carrying a lot of useless baggage.

        Unless you can find a good use for that baggage, it's going to get you nowhere. Some folks have found ways to capitalize on past sufferings by sharing in order to help others who might be facing the same difficulties, but not everyone can write a book or give speeches about what they've had to deal with in life. If those bad memories are just weighing down your thoughts and your ability to function normally, then you need to face them head on and insist upon their departure. You are in control if you take control.

         So you say you can't because you are too weak or the trauma has been too great? There are plenty of help books out there and many of them have useful information. However one book stands out more than all the others and that is the Holy Bible. Some may think it's too religious, it's too hard to understand, it's too boring, or too old fashioned. Have you honestly looked at it with an open mind and given it a chance?

         The Bible can work as a great life road guide, a solver of problems, and a comfort in rough times. Before you say that you don't need the Bible and that you will get professional help or you will help yourself and then, eventually, you will finally find happiness, think again. Have you found happiness yet? Roy M. Goodman said, "Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.".

…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.... (Philippians 3:13, NIV)