Friday, June 27, 2008

New Site on My Birthday

Welcome to the "new and improved" site. There is a new look and feel along with several new features I hope you enjoy. Please feel to post comments, or send feedback. This is a work in progress.
Notes - "Inspirational Stories" was merged with "Praise and Worship" and "This is Our Country" was merged with "America." The original posts are linked at the top of the new page.


Today is my birthday. I am 53 years young today.
It is my first birthday without my mother being here on this earth to call and wish me a happy birthday. But Mom is still with me, more now than ever before. Constantly, in fact. I’m sure at some point today, I’ll hear her lovely voice singing “Happy Birthday, dear Gary.” I will miss her delicious German Chocolate birthday cake this year, and though I can’t call her on the telephone at 9:28pm (the time I was born) to tell her that I love her, I will surely tell her, and she surely knows.
I love you, Mom, and thank you for giving me life.

For several years now, I’ve enjoyed getting up early on my birthday to watch the sun rise. I miss those days when I was doing morning radio, and could see the sun come up each day. And I will also be sure to watch the sun set tonight. It helps me to appreciate each new day and keep life in perspective.

Dolly Parton - Light of a Clear Blue Morning


The following piece was sent to me via email from a friend and former co-worker earlier this month.
I don’t know Paul Humbert, who supposedly authored it, but I’d like to meet him.
And though I’m “only” 53 years old today, I am old enough to understand what he’s saying, while being young enough to enjoy his philosophy for many years to come, the Lord willing. It focuses on what’s really important. As President John F. Kennedy so eloquently put it, “We all breath the same air, we all cherish our children’s future, and we are all mortal.”

Mr. Humbert wrote:

"Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have
always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body,
the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am
taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't
agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving
family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become
more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making
my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but
looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be
messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this
world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4AM
and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's,
and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging
body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite
the pitying glances from the jet set .
They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just
as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not
break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when
somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what
give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken
is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray,
and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my
face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their
hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what
other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned
the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I
like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but
while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have
been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every
single day. (If I feel like it!)"

I'm 53, Mom, and I love you more every day.
Thank you for everything. I love you with all my heart.

..
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