Are You a Square Peg in a Round Hole?

Sometimes the world is a lonely place. © Lloyd Lemons

Thinking back to our school days (and this could include junior high through college), we enjoyed fun times, fretted through stressful days, and survived episodes we’d like to forget. Students earned reputations as the cool kids, the groupies, the brainiacs, the stoners, the loners, and others.

Did you have a label? In school, I didn’t fit in. Anywhere. I was quiet but friendly. I was often accused of not smiling enough. Today, we would call that the "Resting Bitch Face." Other students seemed to like me, but I never had a best friend or a steady girlfriend. And, I was athletic but never played on the school team -- much to the chagrin of the coaches. Did that make me weird? I don't think so. I never felt that vibe, but then, I was mostly unconcerned about things such as popularity.

Here's something to think about. As a student body member, how did you mesh with your peers? Did you blend in? We're you an outlier? Or, were you a square peg trying to fit into a round hole? 

And how did that influence your life today?

I think it's important to teach our young people that square pegs turn out to be some of the happiest, smartest, nicest people around. Superficial popularity is overrated. 

Today, I am what I am. I’ve been married for 47 years to my best friend, Diane. We have a great family, real friends and I’m happy with that.

Pets Can Improve Your Life

My Mom and Dad with their dog, Suzy, circa 1950.

Wolfgang was perfect in my eyes; slightly apprehensive around strangers and loving around family. He would accompany my little brother, a toddler at the time, as he wandered around in the grass and among the bushes in our big back yard of rolling hills. He was my brother’s unofficial guard dog — and he did it instinctively.
...

Owning a pet, however, can be quite a responsibility — depending on what kind of pet you choose; ...

Read the full post here. 

We Live in a Media Wasteland

Advert from 1952 Life magazine.

It’s been said, “we are what we eat.” But similarly, we are what we read. For most of our lives, we consumed mass media: newspapers, television, and radio. It was homogenized information about the world. Today, targeted social media has gained a stronghold in our psyches, which can be treacherous. It’s primarily unfiltered and raw. It can be divisive, dangerous, and untrue. There may be good information to be had, but at what risk? And we can’t forget some other components of the media industry: podcasts, personal newsletters, blogs, online videos, entertainment sites, and more. The choices we have for harvesting information are seemingly endless!

Spending time with the wrong media wastes good energy and can be potentially harmful. How do you make the best selections about the media you consume?

"You're As Old As Dirt!"

Me, before I hit 70.

What does it mean to be 70?
It can mean the difference between life and death ...

One good thing about being 70 is that I'm not 40 anymore. And I don't have the drudgery that came with being 40, such as working at a soul-sucking job, career stagnation, or making yet another desperate sales pitch to convince some unappreciative employer of my worth. As a bonus, I'm not required to maintain "friendships" to benefit me or my career. I choose my friends carefully.

I've given up the exhausting expectation that people will eventually grow up and change for the better, but most won't, and I have resolved to accept that ...

Read the full post here.

Not the party we hoped for?

Friendship fountain along the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.

I recently saw the following poster on the street. It came at a moment when I was alarmed and ashamed by the random craziness in my country.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here, we should dance.

And I'd like to add ... I may have lost faith in our "leaders" to resolve the many obstacles before us. However, one of the best things about getting older is realizing how much I don't know while still having the opportunity to keep learning and better understand people, places, and things. I haven't lost that intrigue, so I still have hope.

Postponing Christmas

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

We’re postponing Christmas so the house doesn’t flood.

Christmas is not a big deal for me. It’s huge for my adult children because they have young ones running around. December 25th, for them, is bedlam. Dozens of gift-wrapped presents are passed around like hot potatoes, violently torn open, thrown to the ground, and the next one taken on. When it’s over, small gifts and small children are hidden by mounds of shredded wrapping paper and empty boxes, and none of them know what they received.

The retail establishment would be elated.

I’m a wee bit disgusted.

On the other hand, my wife is caught between my indifference and the children’s euphoria.

The plan this year was to drive to Atlanta to spend Christmas and a few extra days with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons. We were to leave on December 22nd and return home probably on December 28th.

But, like most of the United States, we have some exceptional weather coming. I live in N.E., Florida, and we don’t often get deep freezes that last 10 to 15 hours. That’s what we’re looking forward to. And not just for one night but for several nights. That would likely wreak havoc with the plumbing in our house.

So, my solution is to postpone our gift openings (the kids won’t wait, but that’s cool) until this weather passes. My wife and I will stay home, watch over the plumbing system, and drive up to Georgia a few days late.

We’ll miss Christmas morning (oh darn!), but we’ll be able to spend New Year’s eve with the gang. Unless the young ones decide to spend it with their friends, leaving us older folks to sit in front of a fire enjoying a warm beverage while we fend for ourselves. (Oh darn!)

Cheers!



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

A Clean Slate

Dolphin sculpture.

I’m not one to make new year's resolutions, but I do have an idea for 2023.

I want to stop the fretting and angst over the insanity of the past three years and live as if it didn't happen. (I know many have experienced incredible loss and won't be able to do that.) I want to recover my mindset and energy from where it was at the end of 2019, pick myself up, dust myself off, and move forward with renewed hope.