My Own Personal New Year

No, you never see it coming
Always wind up wondering where it went
Only time will tell if it was time well spent
It's another revelation
Celebrating what I should have done
With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun


I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control
If there's one thing that I've learned from all this living
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go


....trip around the sun - Jimmy Buffet

My number one birthday tradition is to get to the water - no matter where I am.  This morning I was at home and got to sit by the water that's right in my own back yard.

We all celebrate our birthdays differently I suppose.  I use mine to combine a couple of 'holidays' into one day.  New Years and Thanksgiving.   


The actual holiday/time of year that is "New Year" seems on the surface to be quite arbitrary (and I"m sure theres some good reason for exactly why it's when it is - but I don't feel like doing a google search to find out), but for me the new year resets on my birthday.  It's a personal 'new year' for sure where you can take stock of what you've done for the last 365 and plan on what you'll do for the next.  Reflection is a big part of my personal new year.


Then there's Thanksgiving.  No doubt that on the official holiday that is Thanksgiving - I do a mental checklist of all the things that I'm thankful for, but not as much as I do on my birthday.


I'm a very fortunate fellow.  I'm aware of where I am in life and how it is juxtaposed to many others who haven't the same fortune as I.   


I've decided - for myself - to list some of the many things of which I'm thankful for:


I'm very thankful to have been lucky enough to find incredible love in my life.  It's impossible to explain the importance of that.  


At the top of that list would be my wife who loves me like a dog.  I mean that - it's an unconditional love - the same a dog has for their human.  I just don't know how someone can be so accepting of who I am and what I do.  Some people know me as a successful person, but I fail a lot!  I fail much more than I succeed with some pretty hair brained ideas - some which get nowhere and some which only get somewhere but end up nowhere.   My wife accepts every part of who I am and I could not possibly be happier about where I've ended up on that front.


I have a long, long list of others who I love very much as well.  People who are so important to me - even though with some - I rarely get to see them.  Connections I've had for many years, but they live in other places than where I do.  


An interesting thing about this subject is that because of the lifestyle I've chosen, I have so many friends that are scattered all over the country and in other countries, but I have almost none where I currently live.  It's an strange situation and one we hope to remedy within the next 18 months by moving back to the Outer Banks of NC where our core group of community friends are.


My 20 years of traveling and living all over the U.S. in support of my hang gliding jobs and businesses gave me dear dear friends who I rarely get to see anymore, but do make a connection with every now and then because of the invention of Facebook.  What a two-edged sword Facebook is.  It can be a privacy invading time sink AND it can be the wonderful way to re-find your old friends and reconnect.   It's a tool I suppose and like any tool - you can build beautiful things with it, or you can smash your thumb.  I'm trying my best to not smash my thumb - but I'm certainly building beautiful things.   I am very very thankful for my friends.


I am thankful for the opportunities that have been (and continue to be) placed in front of me.   I don't think I deserve them - however I will gladly act upon them when appropriate.  There are people out there who see more in me than I ever will.  If they can believe in me then I certainly can believe in me an I thank them greatly for opportunities.  My current job is an example of that.  I'm in it because of an opportunity placed in front of me by 2 friends.   I love the job and I thank them.


So as I spend my day being thankful, it's likely I'm thinking about you the reader.  Not many people read this blog and so if you're here - you're likely to be a friend or family member.  Thanks for everything you've done for me - even if it was a smile of appreciation.  It matters.  I learn as much as I can from each of you.