Let Everyday be an Adventure

     Not everyday will be as successful as the previous day in fact some may be a disaster.  Not to worry, stay positive and treat everyday like a new adventure.  Reality is partially how you look at life, not everything will work out for the best but if you know that you can accept it.  Your reaction to life defines your personality.

    
     Living an adventurous life is about learning and expanding your enjoyment of life.  Don’t be fooled to think adventure is restricted to dangerous physical activities.  Adventure can be anything that you deeply desire but have avoided because of embarrassment, self-confidence, personal challenge or opportunity.  Overcoming an embarrassment or any personal challenge is adventurous and dangerous because it’s out of your comfort zone.

     We all have secret desires that will go unfulfilled if we don’t pursue them.  Living adventurously doesn’t mean you will always be successful, it means you are always seeking to expand your life.  Living an adventure may be taking a foreign language, learning to salsa dance, going back to school, writing a novel or starting a business.  It’s not for me to decide, it your personal dream. 

     Living adventurous fulfills your life with things that matter to you at any age.  Life is short so what are you waiting for, take small steps to satisfy your dreams.  Even if you fail you won’t regret the effort and you will be more confident to try again.  Don’t grow old feeling you missed out on your adventure.  “Just Saying….”

     

Food and Memories

     I can't explain it but for some reason certain foods bring back memories from the past.  Usually, at least for me, the memories are better than the taste of these forgotten foods.  Growing up I remember a morning breakfast of fried mush, sounds appetizing right.  Well, the truth is I have fond memories of sitting down to a plate of fried mush (cornmeal) and pouring syrup over the top.  I can't imagine that it was a healthy meal but when I grew up we were more concerned about filling our bellies with tasty food than eating healthy foods. I checked online with Professor Google and found the fried mush is still a popular food, which has made a comeback, so you still have a chance to try this memorable breakfast dish.  

    Another one of my favorites was fried puff wheat.  This delectable dish was pan-fried wheat puffs on the stove top in real butter.  If you ate the puff wheat out of the box it was the consistency of styrofoam and although I have never eaten styrofoam I imagine that it is equally healthy and tasty as uncooked puff wheat.   However, once the puff wheat was fried in an ample amount of butter and sprinkled with sugar or syrup the taste transformed in to a memorable taste explosion.  Let's call that the miracle of butter and sugar, which might actually transform styrofoam into a desirable dish.  

     Here's another food, which I have written about before and I'm sure many of you will remember with fondness.  Gravy bread, it was something I looked forward to more than the meat that sat next to it on my plate.  In our house it was beef gravy that was the prize delicacy, not chicken or pork gravy that just wasn't the same.  It was almost like a dessert when you dipped the soft doughy white wonder bread in the gravy.  Sorry to say wheat bread, whole grain or any other exotic healthy bread didn't exist as far as I knew plus they would have been a sad substitute for white bread.  The doughy white bread was a perfect match for the warm brown beef gravy with a slightly greasy texture; Wow makes my mouth water as I am writing these words.

     When visiting friends this weekend we discussed our old childhood food favorites and decided we would get together to share a meal of our favorites.  We will each prepare one of our favorite dishes to share.  I can only hope that these foods do our memories justice and we don't need to call an EMT. 

Traffic Signs.......Just a suggestion???

     You may have noticed as I have that traffic signs seem to be more of suggestions at least in the minds of many people.  Actually, it's more than signs it's traffic rules in general.  I'm not saying I'm a perfect driver, I make mistakes, speed sometimes but I try to follow safety rules and be courteous to other drivers.


     Speed limits appear to be only a recommendation and truthfully I don't see speeding as a terrible offense but it can be dangerous. It's the Nascar style of driving that that is a real hazard, which I see frequently.  Cars cutting in front of other cars with minimal clearance and crossing 3 lanes to get to the exit ramp or weaving back and forth in traffic to gain a few car lengths.  Here's an idea leave early or just resign yourself to being late rather than risking the lives of other motorists.  Lets not forget about the slow drivers that parks their-self in the fast lane driving 45 mph because they feel comfortable there, they are just as dangerous; move to the slow lane.


     Running stoplights seems to be a prevalent, so much in fact that you would be wise to count to 3 after the light turns green because you could be T-boned by the driver running the red light.  Just so you know, yellow means slow down and get ready to stop not speed up.  I know it can be a gray area (decision wise) depending on where you are when the light turns yellow but let common sense guide you not your urgency to reach the destination.

     Use of blinkers has declined and I am pretty sure all cars have them including the high priced luxury cars.  It might be we are so used to smart phones and smart cars we expect the car to know when we are going to turn and make the appropriate signal.  No! You need to activate the blinker by pushing the arm on the steering column.  It's really not that hard.  This is a minor issue I know but it lets the other drivers know your intentions because my brain and car are not smart enough to read your mind.  "Just Saying...."      

Pen Pals versus Facebook Friends

     Before Facebook there were people that had pen pals.  People would write to a stranger on a regular basis and after awhile these pen pals bonded with each other even though many had never met. Many pen pals started in schools but there were clubs and organizations that promoted pen pals as well.  Most of the time pen pal relationships ended after a few months but some continued for many years.  I recently spoke to an acquaintance that mentioned his wife had a pen pal from Germany that she corresponded with since childhood.  They had become lifelong friends and visited each other on occasion.  That seems pretty special and makes me now wish I had taken the opportunity when it was offered. 

     Regretfully, I never had a pen pal or was even interested in doing it at the time they were popular so I feel like I missed out on that opportunity.  I was too busy being a kid and running around the neighborhood to take time out to write a letter to a stranger.  Too bad maybe I was a little lazy or thought it was weird to write to a stranger.  I took time to sit down a write a letter and even more time to get a response so it never appealed to me.  Fast Forward 50 years and you have Facebook, which unintentionally took the pen pal concept and breathed life back into it by making communication with others easier and with immediate response.  In most cases you will correspond with long lost friends or relatives but I guess you could develop a friendship with a stranger, of course in todays society you must be cautious about talking connecting with strangers.  I found out there are Facebook pen pal clubs that people with similar interest can connect to talk about travel, sports, hobbies, cooking etc.

     I think this is the best thing about social media, re-connecting or connecting with others to share experiences, opinions and dreams. If we are talking and sharing we are listening and experiencing life in a positive way.   So while I agree that you can over share, I like the idea of giving the lazy people like me a chance to have modern pen pals in this electronic age.    

Modern Day (Real life) version of "Who's on First"

     Humor is everywhere and to me the funniest things are the real life situations that aren't intended to be funny but just turnout that way.  Sometimes they initially appear to be frustrating situations but if you sit back and really look at them they are just downright funny. My wife (Mimi) likes to have pedicures sometimes with her friend Cindy, sometimes with our daughter Maureen, but most of the time it's with her sister Ann.  I guess it's a sister bonding time akin to guys going to a cigar bar.

     It seems all nail salons are run and staffed by Asians maybe because they are more accustomed to the service industry.  Many times the staff will take American names, I assume it simpler for the customers, easier to pronounce.  At this salon two Asians on staff have coincidently chosen the American names of Mimi & Ann. They all speak English at the salon but broken English which is much better than I would do in another country so I'm not criticizing them. Sometimes this results in unintentional mis-communication. Here is conversation of a phone call as relayed to me by my wife (Mimi) that reminds me of the skit (Who's on first) by Abbott & Costello.

Mimi: I'd like to make an appointment for Mimi &. Ann

Nail Salon: You want Mimi, Ann

Mimi: No, I'm Mimi & Ann

Nail Salon: Mimi, Ann no here

Nail Salon: You need pointment for Mimi, Ann

Mimi: Yes, I mean I don't care who, anybody

Nail Salon: Ok I make pointment for Mimi, Ann

Mimi: Fine, whatever

Nail Salon: What you name?

Mimi: (Oh Boy! Here we go again.)  It's Mimi & Ann

Nail Salon: Yes, we got Mimi & Ann

Nail Salon: Who pointment for?

Mimi: I don't know & who cares

Mimi: Thanks, I'll call back

Now tell me that's not funny, you know you can't.  As I said early true life stituations' can be funnier than anything you could make up.  Life can be more fun if we don’t take things too seriously.

Yard Cards of St. Charles

I worked full time at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing for 33 years and for the most part it was satisfying but it didn’t fulfill the entrepreneurial side of my life.  Early in our marriage Mimi (wife) stumbled on to our 1^st part time business while reading the newspaper.  She found a business (franchise) opportunity to deliver 8 foot tall greeting cards (Yard Cards) in the St. Charles area.  The franchise was reasonably priced and we thought it would be fun without an extreme amount of effort.   Mimi’s parents had a part time paper business delivering the Globe Democrat, which seemed way more time consuming it would be to deliver Yard Cards. (YC)  So we bought our 1^st business and it was fun because who wouldn’t be happy having an 8 foot tall birthday card placed in their front yard in the middle of the night.  We delivered the cards late at night so they would be surprised in the morning.  The cards were used over and over again plus we charged for the lettering so it was low overhead.

The concept was pretty simple we would receive a call to deliver a card for any specific occasion, which we would deliver on the requested date and then pick up a day later.  Sometimes the customer wanted extra days which was usually no problem.  Each sign/card would be hand lettered with a message from the customer.  We owned this business for about 9 years and in that time we learned the streets of St. Charles very well.  I owned a small truck so it would be easy to transport the YCards but Mimi had a station wagon (older version SUV), which worked but was more difficult to load and unload plus the card turned into a guillotine if you made a quick stop, but we managed.  Most people loved to get these gigantic greeting cards but we did run into a few people that were not at all happy about the gift.

Interesting side story is that in addition to answering calls all day for our business Mimi would babysit for our nephew Kevin (both parents worked during the day) plus our kids were in school.  Since she was home taking care of our business babysitting Kevin was not a problem.  This was in the days before caller ID so we assumed every call was a business call and answered by saying “Yard Cards”.  One evening after my brother-in-law (Tom) picked up Kevin he called to tell us Kevin said his 1^st words which is always a thrill for new parents (we all know that toddlers are mimics that do and say whatever the see and hear), That’s great, well tell us did he say Mama or Dada, neither Tom exclaimed he said “Yard Cards”.  Great, you should be so proud.

Back to the main story, it was beyond our imagination to believe some orders received would be celebrating, divorces, get out of jail parties and even a Yard Card with a marriage proposal.  I was once even met by a guy with a shotgun while setting up a YC.  He was joking, thankfully and the shotgun was broke open without any shells loaded but it was not all that humorous from my viewpoint.

The most interesting story by far was the guy that ordered 3 YC’s for this girl, which were to be delivered in succession.  The 1^st one exclaimed his love for her, the 2^nd asked her to go with him on a Caribbean trip and the 3^rd was a marriage proposal.  This was a great gig for me I would take one down and set the next one up in the same spot.  The girl however was not impressed and called when she receive the 3^rd and final one to ask if we had any more coming because she had kicked this one down and did not want anymore delivered.  She explained clearly that she did not like this guy and wanted nothing to do with him.  I said there were no more cards ordered and I would come over immediately to remove the last one from her lawn.  So I immediately headed out to pick up the card and as I turned the corner to approach the house I saw 2 people in different cars side by side arguing at the stop sign, one was a girl and the other a guy.  Since the house was just a short distance down the street I was able to continue watching as I removed the YC from the lawn.  As I watched I could see the argument getting more heated, seeing arms flaying, fingers pointing etc.  Just as I was about finished I see the girl’s car take a quick right turn from the stop sign then immediately after I seen the guy’s car turn right as well.  It just so happens that was the direction I needed to go so I made a point to keep a lookout for these 2 cars.  Well as you can probably guess about 2 blocks down the road I saw the guy’s car pulled over to the side of the road by a police cruiser.  The girl’s car was nowhere in sight.

I didn’t get any more orders for that address, no surprise. In this case a gift of an 8 foot tall Yard Card was not welcomed surprise.

Give Yourself a Break

     We all make mistakes, have difficult days, regrets but that's life if you're human.  Sometimes we fret over these problems and think about them constantly, which only makes them bigger and more oppressive.  It's time to forgive yourself because turning them over in your mind constantly will not make it better.

     Take a break from your problems and mistakes, it's the easiest way to make your day better.  Stop judging yourself for past problems, it won't help, just vow to do better.  Life problems and mistakes are a constant battle, so it’s important to forgive yourself when they get you down.  If there were no challenges in life we would not become resilient or grow stronger.

     Obligations and responsibilities are a heavy weight on a person. Most people take their responsibilities personally and letting them slide is not an option but sometimes we need to step back from a situation to clear our minds.  Stepping back is not shirking your duties; it's a way to relieve the stress when dealing with a difficult task.  In my opinion we all need time to relax and most of all forgive ourselves when we make a mistake because we are overwhelmed. 

     I'm not claiming that this is magic pill to make your life problem free.  It's just a way of making it ok for screwing up on occasion.  I continue to make mistakes but I forgive myself and try to live everyday a little better than the day before.  "Just Saying...."