Mid Life 1980

Is That A Bicyclist?
Is That A Bicyclist?

Mid Life in 1980?

Hardly.  I was 21. A senior in college, and a dreamer.

There was a movie that shaped the mid life celebration vision.  A mother was videotaping herself while she spoke to her unborn child.

She was dying of cancer and would never meet her child.

She wanted her child to be able to see and hear, directly from the video tapes, what she wished for her child and what she thought her child might want to know about their mother.

It was in the following days, on the lazy, sunny, fall days in West Chester, Pennsylvania that I dreamt of writing a book for my children.

The book would contain all the secrets of life, learned through books, travels and experiences.

While the Mid Life Celebration website is two years old, the name and vision are the same, what’s morphed is Mid Life Celebration’s purpose.

And it’s more exciting than I could have ever imagined 30 years ago. Ever feel like that?

Do you have important dreams from long ago that are more exciting today than when you first dreamt them?

How did you go about keeping them alive all these years?  Or, how did you go about reigniting the flames?

Why?

Mid Life Lies

Life's Big Four
Life's Big Four

Do you lie to yourself?  We all do.

So?

So what are you going to do about it and when are you going to stop?

Mid Life Crisis.  Mid Life Celebration. Mid Life lies.

Life is about balancing life’s big four.  Life’s big four?

Yes. Life can be broken down into four basic segments:

  1. Mind
  2. Body
  3. Spirit
  4. Money

It’s simple.  People think simple isn’t important. Simple is the most important of all.

That’s why no one has focused on it relentlessly.

Until 1980.

Promise Me

Children Watch Everything We Do
Children Watch Everything We Do

Have you ever done something you weren’t supposed to do?  And in order to do it, you had to do it in a sneaky way?  And often, there was a close friend who had already done the thing, and they helped you?

Smoking, drinking, stealing, bad pranks, and so on.

Seriously, these are things adults do not make a conscious effort to teach children.  Can you imagine a Mother saying, “Come here son, it’s time you learned how to smoke cigarettes.”

Heard a Chantix commercial last night. Chantix helps smokers quit. Let me set the scene:

Mom comes on saying, “I smoked a pack a day for 25 years. I could not quit smoking, no matter how hard I tried.”

Until one day……

“I told my son to promise me he would never start smoking.”

He said, “Promise me you’ll quit.”

And the Cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon.  Little boy blue and the man in the moon……he turned out just like me…..my boy was just like me….

Cat’s In The Cradle

Cats In The Cradle
Cats In The Cradle

It was hard wasn’t it?

How can you pick one single solitary song, when there are ten’s of thousands, if not hundred’s of thousands of songs to pick from?

So, after re-reading the list from yesterday’s blog post, it just hit me this morning.

Cat’s In The Cradle“, by Harry Chapin is my all-time favorite song.

Our son will turn out just like me. This song reminds me everyday to be careful what I say and do.

What about you?

What Song?

I Can Only Imagine
I Can Only Imagine

Here are the top five finalists, in no particular order:

  1. I Feel Good – James Brown
  2. Fruitcakes – Jimmy Buffett
  3. Netherlands – Dan Fogelberg
  4. Lifesong – Casting Crowns
  5. I Can Only Imagine – Mercy Me

This was way harder than I thought.  Anyone else struggle?

Oh, I almost forgot, you really don’t have time for this nonsense. I get it. Everyone is crazy busy.

January was supposed to be simple – Simplicity.  What the heck happened to simplicity?

I can only imagine.