Baby Boomers, Don’t Hope For A Miracle, Make One

Baby Boomers, Don't Hope For A Miracle, Make One

Rushing through airports is part of jeff noel’s weekly activity. So is snapping photos of real life in real time. Boomers, as this movie poster suggests I’m moving beyond hope into action. Is it too late? We can be thankful for a late blooming desire to act – and for most of us this is a better late than never opportunity.

Next Blog

Mid Life Celebration

He Enjoyed The Gifts, But The Box, Even More
He Enjoyed The Gifts, But The Box, Even More

On this day of formal Thanksgiving, we have the simplest of all opportunities.

To be thankful for everything.

And if you are a Baby Boomer, or thereabouts, we can start with being thankful for making it to midlife, and choosing a Mid Life Celebration over a mid life crisis.

Many haven’t.

Next Blog

Midlife Shakespeare

“What’s past is prologue.” – Shakespeare

What’s past is simply what got us to where we are today. I’m thankful for that.

What’s here and now, is what will be past tomorrow. I’m thankful for that too.

What lies in the future is the choice we get to make. Our story is being written one day, one moment at a time.

To be or not to be, I mean, to be thankful or not to be thankful, that is the question.

And starting tomorrow, December’s question is, “Am I joyful and do I spread joy?”

People Were Thankful

The Families we visited yesterday were very thankful for the Food donations that were delivered:

We visited an upscale home for the first time in ten years.  My son and I received warm and grateful greetings at every stop. One man even gave me a big hug.

I reminded our son (9) why we started this “three-times-a-year Food For Families tradition” ten years ago.

“If two boys are standing next to an adult, and one uses his manners and the other doesn’t which one do you think the adult will trust more?”

“If two adults say serving others is important, but one actually does and the other only hopes to one day, which one do you think God will say, well done?”

In telling our son why we do this, even though it may seem small, we are actually preparing ourselves to do more. By putting others first every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter morning, we are developing a habit similar to using manners.

We are cultivating good habits.  That’s all we can really ask of ourselves, isn’t it?

Bear Hug

Are you thankful for the seemingly overwhelming obstacles that appear in front of you?  Many times, I’ve finally come to learn, the solutions are simple.

What began as anger turned into an amazing blessing.

Bear hugs began about seven years ago when I was struggling to adapt to a new rule our son’s child care provider put in place.

My wife takes our son to day care, I pick him up. Upon arrival, the first thing I’d do is scoop him up and give him a hug. In many cases, I had not seen him (awake) since the day before.

The new policy change had you remain in your vehicle as your child was placed in their car seat. You never got out of the car. Some parents liked this.

I did not. In fact, it made me really pissed off angry. Fuming mad.

Solutions are often simple and many times, come from unlikely sources. A friend, gay and never ever ging to be a parent, gave me the best parenting solution.

He said, “After you pick up your son, why don’t you drive around the corner, park, get out, and do your bear hug?”

Duh!  It was the perfect solution. Perfect.

There have been a few days where we are several miles from his school when one of us realizes we didn’t do our bear hug.  Do we wait until we get home? Nope.

What overwhelming challenge have you had that turned into one of your biggest mid life blessings?