A New Year

Wow, been a while since I added a new entry to my blog. Funny how life can get in the way when making plans. Here it is 2011, and a brand new opportunity to make something of myself if I keep up my dedication to improvement. If only it was that easy.

I'm a guy who loves the outdoors and takes every opportunity to get out there every day. The only restriction is my physical health which, as time passes, is continually changing. With age comes wisdom to see the whole picture. When I was young I thought it comical to hear older people comparing health problems, injuries, aches and pains, with more detail than I wished to hear. They seemed to enjoy sharing these stories with the same pleasure a world traveler would share their adventures. Was that going to be me one day? No way!

Jump ahead 30 plus years and here I am following in those same footsteps. I just spent the past New Years with an old friend from high school. Had not seen her in over 30 years! We shared stories of our achievements and failures in that same manor, but what really stood out was our comparing of our health histories. We happily shared our lists of injuries and surgeries like they were great accomplishments. Like a game of poker, she would reveal something and I would respond with an ailment of my own, as though raising the bet. Does that mean the one with the most scars win, and what do we actually win? One thing is for sure in this life, we don't get out of it alive and unscathed. Battle scars, that is what we end up with. Those same grunts and sighs my parents and their friends made when getting up and sitting down, I now make them! My own joints will snap and crack at the most inopportune times, a sign of the wear and tear I've put them through, but I won't quit. Use it or lose it, this has never seemed so true. Just over a year ago I had my third eye surgery and recovery has been long and painful but worth it just to continue to see. I've learned to be grateful and not complain. Count my blessings, not failures.