April 8, 2010 - It's About Time!

Around fifteen years ago, a co-worker suggested that I might do well to start a Blog. I didn't listen. He was right.

A couple of years prior to that an acquaintance warned me that a body's metabolism changed at thirty-five making it harder to stay slim and fit. I didn't listen. She was right.

Over the years there are plenty of bits of advice that I didn't listen to - at the time. Inevitably, most have proven to be true; and I have finally "made a loud popping sound." ... or so I think ... enough to write this ... so far ... dang!

OK, here's to "Better late than never."

My 50th Birthday was this past November. I decided to be happy about this because my father gave me such a good example of how NOT to handle your 50th Birthday. He was a genuine pill, so I had to push his biggest button first with a big "Happy Birthday, Dad!" at 12:01am. In honor of the art of "making a loud popping sound", I decided to be happy just like he always replied to my consistent question, "What should I be when I grow up?"

"Happy," I've muttered over the years, "What the Hell is THAT! Damn Dad. Happy. God-damned, son-of-a-bitch, stupid ..." Well, you get the point.

He didn't make it easy, either. I told him I wanted to be a dancer, and he replied, "Well, that's a nice hobby; but what are you going to do to make money?"

"You said that you just wanted me to be 'Happy'!" I countered, and the room was silent. I made my dad hang his head. That made me happy.

He always wanted me to be a lawyer, but I didn't want to argue for a living. He suggested Sales and Marketing, but I didn't want to sell things. When I went back to college to get my Theatre Degree, my father and my mother supported me. That made me happy.

It made me even happier because I was a single mother of two small children, so I was flying in the face of convention; confident that I would make it work. I was full of "piss and vinegar", and it was spread out in a thousand pieces all over the universe. I was a mess, but at least my parents weren't arguing with me about studying Theatre with two small children. That made me extremely happy.

Now after all those years of being happy and sad, I'm committed to being happy. It still kinda irks me that dad gets his way, but like I said, "It's about time I 'made a loud popping sound'!"

Being Happy for me means that if I'm going to do anything, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. If I'm not performing to the best of my ability, then I'm going to be honest with myself about it. It means having the guts to blaze new trails and let old trails grow over til they aren't recognizable anymore. It means taking great joy in having a rotting memory, and working to keep it from all fading away. Being Happy is all about thinking before I write and speak, most times; but again, when I don't - what the hell - "GO FOR IT!" Being Happy is all about the journey and looking forward to the unknown.

So here's the first installment. I'm going Forward @ 50.

HAPPY = CHECK!