When we moved to the mountains in NC from Fl. I took up hiking or some would say walking in the woods, on designated trails close to civilization, many miles away from off grid stuff. In Fl. I walked a few days a week and rode my bike a lot which was easy because Fl. is very much like my first girlfriend… flat as hell. NC. On the other hand is very much like my wife… voluptuous. Tall mountains with winding trails make bike riding difficult, even on the main roads it’s still up and down hills and curvy you guessed it, like my wife. So I decided I would spend more time with nature and less time with people because the only person I like to be around is curvy with mountains.

The day I married my wife, which was ten years ago today. I can relive that day every day. We got married at a beach pavilion it was a late afternoon ceremony so it was a little cooler, the breeze coming off the water was refreshing and comforting. We were surrounded by our family and friends all of who gifted us both with love and kindness. I wore my favorite suit and had one of my dearest friends by my side, my wife arrived on time and was as radiant then as she is today. We have enjoyed ten amazing years together, traveled thousands of miles seen many different countries enjoying so many different cultures and people. We did this ourselves we built our lives just the way we wanted it.

Head on. Face to face. It took me most of my life before I found a way to deal with the challenges that life throws our way. I realized most of the day to day life that we live is pretty mundane and even uneventful so there’s never a reason to get our panties in a bunch or throw a hissy fit because something didn’t go you way, because really just because you believe it should happen one way doesn’t mean it will. Most of the time it’s just the opposite and if you’re smart you will realize early in life things don’t always go your way, if you lucky you may get one out of ten of if you’re really good at planning parties, events or making travel plans you know the uncertainty of every step so you do your due diligence to put the odds in your favor, and that is all you can do. If it all goes to shit do it again only this time listen to your husband because we’re pros at that stuff.

Focus on yourself, create yourself be strong don’t get distracted, stay hungry for knowledge, be humble always.

Well, since I married a Thai woman I am partial to Thai food especially street food. That being said I have eaten food all over the world and so many come to mind, in Paris is was the croc monsiure from a sidewalk cafe near the Eiffel Tower, during that lunch my wife was looking and found a Thai restaurant nearby that we went to for dinner. A few days after that we were in Switzerland and the restaurant in a tiny village had the most amazing fondue, I can taste the cheese as I am writing this and we did shop at the local Co-op often. Our trip to Danang Viet Nam brought a plethora of seafoods each dish more delicious than the previous one. When we’re home in America in our little mountain town there is the best barbecue I have ever eaten, we go there once a month and more when friends come to visit. When we lived in Florida there was and still is awesome seafood even after so many of those restaurants closed after hurricane Milton the remaining restaurants stepped up their menu. I grew up in New England and I have never been able to find clam chowder quite like the one I grew up with and you be hard pressed to find a better lobster bake anywhere, we would get a strong fire going in the fire pit cover it with seaweed from the Atlantic throw some lobsters on it with a couple of bags of clams cover it with more seaweed and wait awhile melt some butter when it’s ready dig in and you swear you’re in heaven.

Common sense, although I think you can develop and hone it, but if you don’t use it you lose it. The ability to relate to other people with care and compassion, hand eye coordination, physical dexterity, love and empathy, we have the ability to learn and develop so many different skills and we are born with certain gifts and talents That many of us never use. Some people seem to be from another planet they’re so good at what they do, Bruce Lee still today to be the greatest martial artist of all time, Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of all time Warren Buffet greatest investor of all time and all the great actors singers and performers, Olympic athletes race car drivers, those people all had one basic skill, the determination to succeed, they were willing to put in the work needed to be the best, but it’s more the just putting in the work it’s the willingness to sacrifice the life you’re living and the people in your life so you can grow into the best version of yourself, it’s plan A without a plan B, it’s so or die it’s as simple as taking that first step.

There are tens of thousands of songs in my head and they play from the time I wake up unto I get into my truck and turn on the radio. This has been going on for as long as I can remember, depending on my state of mind when I go to bed the song I wake up to varies and it’s mostly the music I grew up listening to, from the ‘70s ‘80s ‘90s. I do listen to all types of music even rap I really enjoy Eminem and will find myself singing his stuff, but not very often. I would say Aerosmith, Journey, Elvis, ELO, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Adele just to name a few, as far as lyrics go I don’t think I would ever be able to nail down any lyrics from all the artists I have listened too, some of my favorites are Van Halen 38 special Ray Charles Jewel etc,etc,etc. I imagine most everyone has a mental playlist, I believe it helps keep the weight of the world off our shoulders, keeps life light and maybe we’re happier and kinder because of it.

Quit smoking, and it’s been thirty years since I had a cigarette or cigar. Oh, and drinking, although I didn’t have a drinking problem I knew it was bad for me and I did for most of my live take decent care of myself in regards to what I put in my body and such, but life is full of reasons to cheat, I like to eat as fresh as I can, but some days I just run out of time or get sidetracked and end up eating like a freaking moron. I tried different drugs thankfully nothing stuck, same with booze and smokes. I think my biggest and longest battle is with food, as I mentioned earlier I like to eat clean fresh fruits and vegetables no red meat chicken and fish and pork, but every so often I feel I need ice cream or cake or pie any and all dessert related foods. I have given them up, but they always seem to come back, like a bad penny or that family member who just couldn’t clean up their act and get their shit together. I believe we all have the strength to change our behaviors, our desires some stay gone forever some come back to scratch that itch.

I believe it’s a little bit of both. We come into the world pretty much an empty vessel I mean we have our parents DNA and genetics, but we’re still lacking a personality, morals and values the things that make us who we are and we get those things from our parents our family. Then as we grow and we interact with other people during those early teen years when our chemistry is really churning up we become ourselves more of an individual. Our interest are high as we find search for more of ourselves and we’re surrounded by hundreds of thousands of other people, some we are drawn to, you don’t know why but you’re need to be around them is unexplained that feeling you can never put into words and that doesn’t mean they’re are soul mate or future spouse, I believe it’s at a molecular level when we see those ones that we can’t get enough of. It may only be for a day week or month and then it’s over the feeling fades you’re done ready to move on to find another attraction. Experiences both good and bad shape us into the people we are at that moment, we have all the memories but we need not continue to live, ideally we continue to move forward it’s how we grow, how we learn of our inner strengths to become the person we want to be.