Taught early on to play it safe, unfortunately this lasts a lifetime

Orlando Elementary School intersection crossing
Out for an early morning run, waiting for traffic signal to cross safely

 

Orlando Elementary School intersection crossing
Frequently crossing this intersection, but rarely seeing a crowd, except for today

 

Orlando Elementary School intersection crossing
Taught early on (rightfully so) to play it safe. Unfortunately this lasts a lifetime for many.

 

Midlife is for taking risks.

If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted on the Sistine floor.  – Neil Simon

Funny, right?

When it’s someone else denying their potential, but what about when’s it’s us?

Next Blog

PS. Correction: Our entire life is for taking risks, and midlife becomes our last great chance to get back on track.

 

We all know the answer to this common midlife dilemma

Mid Life Celebration book and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame marque
How audacious is it to think you could start a movement that would change things?

 

This quote struck me while sitting in a Cleveland hotel room, sipping the morning’s first cup of coffee.

I just kept on doing what everyone starts out doing. The real question is, why did other people stop?
– William Stafford

We all know why we stop. We don’t share the same exact reason, but we do all pick from the same generic list of excuses.

It took me 30 years to write the first sentence for Mid Life Celebration: rethink • reprioritize • recommit.

Took two more years to finish it.

Took two more years after that to get the guts to commit to publishing.

I get what you get and hear what you hear and fear what you fear, but kept going anyway.

Here’s to you.

(click the link below to get to the horrific Saddam Hussain post told by my cab driver)

Next Blog

 

Guest blogger Lorie Sheffer: Every day heroes

Winter ice on Pennsylvania landscape
Every day heroes (Photo: Lorie Sheffer)

 

Police in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, received a call during this week’s ice storm. A man said his 90-year-old aunt could not be contacted, and could someone please check to make sure she was OK. He was not sure the name of the road on which she lived; he thought it was River Road, and she lived in a trailer. Power was out in that area, and she was alone.

Southern Regional Police Chief John Fiorill spent the next 4 hours navigating icy roads, downed power lines and fallen trees trying to find her. Areas near the Susquehanna River are dotted with mobile homes, which sit along winding, hilly, sometimes one-lane roads. Chief Fiorill checked all of the trailers in the township that he could find. Finally on River View Road, he saw a hand lettered, cardboard sign in the window of a trailer. It said, “Help Me”.

Inside he found the woman, no heat, phone or electricity, bundled up in heavy sweatpants and socks and gloves, scarf and coat and hat. She had also bundled up her little dog, who was waiting to be rescued along with her. The police chief said he doubts if she would have survived another day. He contacted relatives, who were anxious to take her in with them but who had no way to transport her. So Chief Fiorill loaded the woman and her little dog into his vehicle and drove them to safety with her family.

Next Blog