“I live to enjoy life by the littlest things, feeling the grass between my toes, breathing fresh air, watching the wind sway the trees, enjoying the company of loved ones, a deep conversation, getting lost in a good book, going for a walk in nature, watching my kids grow up. Just the feeling itself of being alive, the absolutely amazing fact that we are here right now, breathing, thinking, doing.”

-Marigold Wellington

I believe that life is worth living, and I realized later in life that I didn’t even have much of a choice.

Jean sent me this lovely message this morning:

“Your blog is a breath of fresh air revealing without a self and other-imposed rules. They speak of a life worth living, the central motivator being authentic, true to who you are, and I thank you for inspiring me to do the same.

Jean startled me in a very good way; she spoke my heart so well.

The long and hard work of my life is to learn how to e myself in a world where almost everyone else is telling me how to live, what to write, and how to be.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that to be yourself in a world that is continuously trying to make you something else is the greatest achievement. And also my highest goal.

Emerson and Thoreau both found long and gallantly to be themselves in a world that had other ideas for them. This is a struggle for every individual in the world.

The purpose of my life is not only to be happy; it is to be useful, to be compassionate, to have it make some small difference that I have lived and lived well.

“You must live in the present,” wrote Thoreau, “launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other and, there is no other life but this.”

The Pandemic has not taken the love of life away from me, nor will I let. No politician will take my life a way from me. Jean said it better than I have. I am learning to be true to who I am.

In our world we rush to pin labels on one another, so that we can shut out what we want to hear and learn to hate people who are different from us. I won’t accept anyone putting a label on me.

No one else can own soul.

I am rarely the best man that I can be. But mine is a life worth living, and I wish the same for every other human being on our earth.