We The People . . .

Once again, we celebrate our Constitution Day.  Back in 1787, the Constitutional Convention signed our Constitution.  This is one of the occasions that I have observed regularly throughout the years.  I tend to get on a soapbox every year about how important it is to recognize our freedoms and liberties that were granted to us so long ago.

Through my adventures in volunteerism and through jury duty this past year, I have seen our system of laws in action.  It really is an interesting process and I do believe that our forefathers had some interesting foresight when crafting our judicial system.  The system actually does work in spite of the people.

While change is necessary to keep up with current technology, I think our Constitution has really endured the test of time. Happy 227th Constitution Day!  Let freedom ring!

See ya.

Life In The Slow Lane

One of my friends often wonders why I never drive in the car pool lane when he is riding with me.  Although there are a variety of reasons, I think it just makes me feel uncomfortable.  After many years of being alone, it feels a bit unsettling to have the ability to be in the car pool lane.  I'm also just not used to driving on that side of the freeway.  It just doesn't seem normal.

The car pool lane is an interesting concept.  In order to enter, you need an additional person in the car.  In many cases, this lane might not be too much faster than any of the other lanes in heavy traffic. Life in the fast lane really isn't always the best thing.  When I'm with my friends, I like to think it's all about the journey.  Why does everyone want to go faster in order to end the journey sooner?

I prefer life in the slow lane.  I'm going to enjoy the ride.

See ya.

The Back Forty

I've often heard that life begins at forty.  It's been a few years since that time for me.  I was looking through the last twelve years of posts, and I realized that aging is one of those topics that seems to be of concern to me.  Several years ago, I started to realize that it was getting harder to keep up with the rigors of life.  I've had some false starts at a mid-life crisis in quite a few of my posts.  Maybe they were all real, and maybe they were just a prologue.

I think that the mid-life crisis hit for real last summer.  That's when I returned to some of my volunteer work, and really decided that it was time to work with foster kids.  A mid-life crisis comes at a point when one realizes that there are fewer years ahead than there are behind.  I think I've come to that realization a while ago, when I lost my career a few years back.

I've got my career back a while ago, and I also seem to be working through what I would characterize as my retirement job.  I guess a mid-life crisis can sometimes not be a bad thing.  It did make me realize what was really important and helped me focus on what I needed to accomplish.  Here's to the next forty!

See ya.

Advice From Myself

Sometimes you just have to stop and listen to yourself.  In all of the rants, er, blog posts that over the last several years, I realized that I have dispensed some good advice every now and then.  A few years ago, I said to never stop learning and to trust your instincts.  Of course, my wit seemed to be much sharper back in the day.

In the last couple of years, my priorities have really changed, but the advice seems to be universal.  I seem to be more driven by my work with the teenagers these days.  Applying my advice, I still have a lot of learning to do.  Instead of principles of marketing, it's all about the education system, scholarships, and grants.  I've got a lot of teenage challenges ahead, but I think I can start trusting my instincts a bit more.

See ya.

Ties That Bind

As a mentor and volunteer, there are moments in time that really stand out.  Even though there were a lot of hectic things going on at work and with both kids that I mentor, it was really a little thing that stood out to me this time.  I had to help one of the kids with something today, and he had to wear a tie.  I had to teach him how to tie a necktie today.  It took him a couple of times, but he did it very well.  I know, it's a small thing.  But it really is the sum of these small moments that make it all worth while.

See ya.

Back To Work

I was recently reminded that the more things change, the more things stay the same.  I know I've posted some form of this saying quite a few times in this and many other blogs.   I've got a new job, and by fortunate happenstance, I've been reunited with a great team of people from previous jobs.  While I've been there a short time, it was easy to slide into the team and feel like we've been at it for years.  After a few years of being underutilized at work, it's nice to return to my life as a workaholic.  Although, this aging nonsense is making it a bit harder to keep working past midnight. 

About four years after my world was turned upside down, my work life has finally returned to a what I consider to be normal.  My volunteer life is also back to consuming a large portion of my personal life once again.  I can't say that it feels like I never left.  I can't equate this experience to waking from a coma, since I've never been in one.  However, I think that might be the best analogy.

I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to be defined by my career.  However, it's still a nice thing to have.  Although things are back to normal, I still feel like there is something still amiss.  During the intervening years, my priorities have shifted a bit.  While I still do think that work, life, and balance are three unrelated words, I do think that each does have its place.  Well, it's time to get back to work!

See ya.

Heroes Aren't Hard To Find

Goals in life seem to change throughout the years.  I think I used to maintain that the goals of youth are tied to ruling the world.  As you get older, you want to change the world.  In later years, you wonder what in the world is going on.   I believe I've reached phase two.  A few years ago, my goals used to revolve around my career and job.  These days my goal in life is to save the world one kid at a time.  It sounds corny, but it's something that really resonates with me these days. 

I've been volunteering as a mentor and advocate for many years now, and there are times that you wonder if you really are making a difference.  It's all about the little moments throughout the years that mean a lot. A few years ago, one of the parents wrote me a nice note when her son graduated from high school, and credited my time with her son as the reason that he did so well in school.  Recently, one of the kids told me that I was his best friend, and that he needs me to continue to help him with school.  Moments like these remind me that mentoring is a big responsibility.  It also reminds me why I continue.

Heroes aren't hard to find.  Sometimes all you have to do is look in the mirror.  It doesn't take a lot of time or money.  It just takes the willingness to help someone.

See ya.

Lost Hours In The Night

One of the strange rituals that some of us go through at this time of year includes the lost hour in the night.  We call this phenomenon Daylight Savings Time.  I grew up in a place that did not practice this strange resetting of clocks.  As an adult, it still is a subject of fascination for me.  This is the day that we "spring forward," or turn the clock ahead by an hour.  In doing so, we "lose" the hour until we can reclaim it sometime this fall.

If you have been reading my ramblings, you know that I have had a fascination with the mechanics of time.  The semi-annual time shift that we experience does more than just cause a distortion with our own perception.  When time isn't considered a constant, we start to see problems arise.  During the lost hour, I have seen several systems start to malfunction due to a timing miscalculation.  Once we get these systems back in synchronization, it will be time to change the clock back.  The circle continues throughout the years, and I guess it all balances out in the end.

Well, I've got to fix all my clocks now, and then it's time for bed. See ya.