This is going to be one of my reflective posts, but I hope it to be inspirational as well.
It has been said that what matters is how you've lived "the dash"; that is, the dash between the birth and death dates on your tombstone. While I intend to have a memorial marker when I pass (I intend to be cremated and have my ashes sprinkled in Lake Itasca, Minnesota --those who know me, know why, those who don't...ask). So I was stopping and thinking today about how I've lived the dash.
I have been many things: a printer, a crutch maker, a cook, a pizza delivery boy, a political lobbyist, a public speaker, a car wash attendant, a caregiver for the developmentally disabled, a miner, and a plumber, among many other things. I have screen tested for a major Hollywood movie, and have a number of local theater performances under my belt. I have developed myself as an amateur writer (hoping to change that status before too long), and have worked on two successful state assembly campaigns, one unsuccessful state assembly campaign, one successful gubernatorial campaign, one (possibly successful) US Senate campaign, and one (most likely unsuccessful) presidential campaign.
I have rappelled off a 1,000 foot cliff, hiked the 43 miles of the "Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore", seen a volcanic eruption, been through a 6.5 earthquake, seen the London Bridge (in Arizona), met Arlo Guthrie, met "Weird Al" Yankovic, been onstage with the Christian rock band "Apologetix", flown a private plane, met two governors, and attended two state assembly inaugurations and one gubernatorial inauguration. I have been married 9 1/2 years, definitely an accomplishment in this culture, have fathered four girls and one boy, and eagerly look forward each day to returning home to them. I have "touched history", having close ties to both a paid federal witness in the McCarthy era and to an individual who was brought to answer to the House UnAmerican Activities committee.
And yet, in all of these things, there is so much more that I long to do. So much that, if I lived 1000 years, I could never do it all.
Live your life to the fullest, and don't make excuses for the things you haven't done.
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish