The other day my best friend and I were having lunch
together and in the middle of the meal I said to him “I just want you to know
how proud I am of you and all that you have been able to accomplish”.  Strange and unexpected statement to be made
while we were stuffing out faces with as much unhealthy BBQ as we could eat in
the 30 minutes we allow ourselves for lunch, right?  I continued to praise him and used examples
of the past year to validate why I felt inclined to make the previous
statement.

I think everyone, no matter the level of success, needs to
hear that.  Not lip service, but
legitimate and heartfelt praise is important in our lives and sometimes someone
else has to say it in order for you to realize it or stop for a moment and
embrace it.  For many, myself included,
it’s often embarrassing to hear.

I live a blessed life. 
I really do.  I have an awesome
family and some really terrific people in my life.  The money is good and I do what I love for a
living, with still enough free time to do the other stuff that I love.  I know that’s not everyone’s story, but don’t
think for a moment, that if I had less, I’d be any less happy.  I’m very happy.  Happiness is what you make of it in this
world and only you control your level of content.  There is, however, a certain level of doubt
and cynicism with all of us. 

I think it’s safe to say that we all wait for the other shoe
to drop?  Things are going great and life
is sunny, but there is a cloud looming in the distance, ready to derail and
flood your happiness with tragedy, negativity and doubt. 

Fuck that cloud. 

That being said, I honestly don’t think it is humanly
possible to live every day like it’s your last day on earth.  Only old retired people have time to smell
all the roses.  Also, a word of advice,
never ask old people about the weather or how they are feeling.  Remember, they have all the time in the world
to tell you and they will draw it out and repeat details.  You can’t go skydiving or Rocky Mountain
climbing or anything else suggested to you in a Tim McGraw song.  It just realistically doesn’t work like that.

I consider myself an optimistic realist.  I cherish the moments and the life that I
have.  I try to take in every experience
that presents itself and I don’t try to cram in a bunch of crap into my life in
an effort to check something off a bucket list before the plane I am on crashes
into the mountains.  For the record, I am
writing this on a plane headed to Atlanta, so that technically could happen.
Then again, according to my 3rd grade geography class, I don’t
recall any mountains in the path of this flight.

Any way.

We often wait for the other shoe to drop because we don’t want
to fully feel the brunt of the potential negative or painful experience that is
inevitably, at least in our minds, coming this way.  We have been fooled way too many times by the
positive tempo of life, only to be knocked down by the Karate Kid style
“sweeping of the leg”.

Fuck Cobra Kai

The perfect marriage-till he bangs the secretary.  He loves you till he finds out you can’t have
kids-then leaves.  She wakes up one
morning and is no longer in love with you. 
Your older brother falls asleep and never wakes up again.  Life will “sweep the leg”.  It will rain on your parade.  Yet, there is no real reason to live life
flinching and waiting for Johnny to get the body bag!  (How many Karate Kid references is that now?)

Be a good person. Try harder.  Do the best with the opportunities that are
there for the taking.  Do a few more
things beyond what you feel you have the energy to do.  We are all gonna die.  In the end, you can’t take those experiences
with you, but with saying and doing the right things; you can make a terrific
life for yourself and others around you. 
Remind yourself of all the good you have done and help others reaffirm
that they too should be proud.  Stop for
just a moment and reflect.  Help others
reflect too.  People understand and
realize their successes when they are praised by others.  There is more to this life than waiting for
the bumps in the road to end.  Don’t live
like you are dying.  Live like you are
living.

One more thing.  Wax
on.  Wax off.