Thank you for reading! :)
I remember as a boy watching an old Black & White movie about survivors in a lifeboat and the difficult choices that had to be made in terms of who should stay in the boat.
This was contrasted by the silliness of "Gilligan's Island" in which it was pretty clear to me that all the castaways would have been dead in a week without The Professor.
Ironically we really did not watch much television as kids, so what we did experience I tried to learn from. As a kid the appeal of a character like James Bond or Indiana Jones was not about attractive women, it was about being able to do anything.
So as much as I was teased by my Elementary School friends, becoming an Eagle Scout and learning difficult skill sets seemed like a good plan in order to grow up to become someone you'd want around if you were ever in a bad situation.
Physically tough, Mentally capable, Emotionally compassionate, and Spiritually connected.
My sense of character and clarity is defined with those goals in mind.
So as a kid I ended up reading everything I could and learning from people I looked up to and respected in effort to "become" the kind of person you would be honored to know as a true friend and grateful to have around if you found yourself in an emergency!
As for who that makes me, I can share with you that little kids and old people love me but I am hit & miss in my own generation. My grandfather taught me that: "It is never okay to be childish, but it is always okay to be childlike,"
I have never been married and am paving the way for that possibility by rebuilding my house from the ground up. In a way I see my house as a Field of Dreams...if I build it, she will come. Sounds silly, but currently it is very obviously a mans space with no closets or accommodations for what most women would want so I am making some changes to be be able to provide a nice home.
That is the long term goal, at the moment I am happy just to meet new friends and just see where it goes. :)
I've lived all over the world, been almost everywhere except Antarctica. I can tell you that the world's most romantic places can really suck by yourself. For example, a gondola ride in Venice solo does NOT make you feel like James Bond since having two Italian dudes in tight striped white shirts sing "O So La Mio" to you while you float along the equivalent of the Ala Wai Canal with better architecture leaves much to be desired...so I have learned to "re-frame" almost any experience to make it positive, even if that sometimes requires a bit of imagination!
=)
PS: Please have a photo since I am really shallow and superficial.
(Just kidding!!! I'm not shallow or superficial, but I do like to see who I am writing to! ;)
Since deciding to help my best friend from sixth grade learn martial arts I have helped teach friends as a hobby. I still carry on that tradition to this day and every so often I am reminded why...
In high school I trained two brothers, one normal and the other special needs. Their mother knew my mother from church so I was asked if I could teach them. The bond of love between the two brothers was really touching, not just because one cared for the other...but because the challenged one always thanked him. It was a new challenge for me at the time, but eventually the hard work began to show and he made amazing strides in coordination and focus.
The other day I was at the super market and was surprised to learn that the store manager was the boy I had trained in high school. He said if it wasn't for our training he never would have been able to graduate from high school and have his job. I was with two current students at the time which made it even more special.
"You have the best teacher" he told them "I will hope he can help make your life as wonderful as mine."
At that moment I totally forgot why we were in Foodland in the first place...so I decided it was to see him.
