La Shawn Barber’s self-reflective post this Friday has caused me to turn the mirror toward myself today in a manner I haven’t attempted in quite a while.

Still haven’t:

Adopted more children

Built a house away from the city

Attained my (personal) required degree of
self-sufficiency

Taken my wife on a cruise

” ” Christmas shopping in New York and Paris

Swam with dolphins in the wild

Backpacked the length of the River Severn from Wales to Bristol.

Haven’t yet visited:

Tierra Del Fuego
Bombay
Ankgor Wat
Ancient Lycian sarcophagi in Turkey
The Smoky Mountains
The Virgin Islands
ancient Styria/Moldavia
Cape Wrath in Scotland
Mongolian plains
the Guilin Hills in China

Still haven’t

Seen the Boredoms play live in Japan

Listened to Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E Flat played by the Prague Symphony Orchestra

Invented a revolutionary gearing system for bicycles

Recorded the LP I’ve been putting off for the last 5 years

Hang-glide/microlight across some of the Himalayas

Bought us a special seaside retreat, somewhere to fish, cook, have friends, drink wine, smoke a little good stuff, play a little music and sit on a porch watching the weather, the birds, the growing things, in short, everything BUT the clock

I’m not sure the “selfish” women of the world are your problem.

Especially, if God has other plans for you…..plans which you may, or may not, agree with—that’s always a difficult thing, for some.

I’d say my ultimate goal is simply to live each day to the fullest, since nobody, except You-Know-Who, knows what the future holds.

The best age for me, so far, was age 18. There’s never been an age like that for me, or ever will come again.

At 18, I felt like I’d been let out of a cage. Funny, because I did have a lot of freedom before age 18, but there was something about maybe ages 18, and 19, that felt very liberating.

Never felt that way again.

If anything, I want time to speed up. There’s a line from the movie ‘The Way We Were’ it goes….”Wouldn’t it be lovely if we were older; we’d have survived all this”.

I feel that way. I hate when time stands still and stagnates. I want everything to speed up so I can say I made it through!

1. My wife has begun working on a teaching degree [science & mathematics - grades 4 through 8].

2. We plan to return to Tanzania once she has completed her studies and teach there. Actually, that is finishing something we started.

3. Travel – we would like to see other African countries such as South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda. I would like to go to Rwanda as well, but my wife does not like the idea.

(2) If you could completely start your life over from scratch, what would you do differently the second time around (if anything)? Why?

For myself, I would like to have been a professional baseball player. There is baseball in the Bible, by the way (Genesis 1:1 In the big inning….. ). Also, Job was a Cubs fan. Domed stadiums, artificial turf, and the DH rule are all signs of the impending Apocalypse – mankind will pay for these scarlet sins!

And, like you La Shawn, I never would have had that first drink.

(3) What do you think you’ll be like when you’re 70, 80, 90, possibly even 100 years old? Where do you think you’ll be living, and what activities do you think you’ll enjoy?

See Question #1

(4) What ages do you think have been the best for you so far? Why? What do you think of your current age…are you enjoying it? Are you looking forward to your next birthday?

For myself, this is my best age. I have a wife and a beautiful baby son. From a physical point of view, though, my 30s was my best age. I had much more energy then than I have now!

Many of my goals have changed over the years. I would like to go back to school, only taking the subjects that I would enjoy instead of those that were chosen for me.

I would like to become a better husband and father, I am 58 and have so far to go.

I was under the impression that in the society that the Master grew up in that 30 was the age of responsibility.

I would enjoy serving a Mission in, well I do not know where yet. I am sure it will come to me.

One of my minor goals I greatly enjoyed was visiting Mesa Verde. The “Aztec ruins” in Aztec, New Mexico. Carlsbad and Mammoth Cave are also minor goals in a possible future.

“Third world countries” have me more enthused than Europe.

I would like to return to my Heavenly Father.

2. Go back to school and earn another degree.

3. Dating/Relationship perhaps…. but without #1, I can’t seem to get to #3.
Dating/Relationships these days are all about economics (and not much else unfortunately).

4. Want to travel to a few places within the U.S. I have already been to most large cities east of the Mississippi… did a lot of travelling with my dad when I was a young man…. and I have already seen as much of Europe as I want to see, lol. I was born there lived there for a while but didn’t really venture out. Don’t plan to return because I don’t fly.

But there are a few places within the 48 State box that I would like to visit….by car of course.

5. A Book? Too much politics involved. It was once a goal and may be again at some point. I actually started a manuscript a couple of years ago… did the first three chapters and it has been collecting dust ever since. It’s hard to do when you have a full time job.

Then there is the issue of getting published…. Almost impossible to do unless you know someone in the publishing business. So instead of the book, I started the blog…

But I may return to the book at some point. It takes some people 5, 6, 7 years to write one. I am at the halfway point…. 3 or 4 more chapters and i’m done.

I have to re-evaluate it…. I think I’m trying to cover too many topics, and all of my thoughts are bumping into one another….

6. Build a social network. Hard to do when you are not in the right economic class.
I think in order to get to a position to get #3 (besides $$$), I will have to get out more…. and I hate going out.

Here’s the link in any case,

http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/08/he-said-she-said.html

I would like to write a book. (Doesn’t every blogger say that!) My blog may be that book someday. I try to write at least one inspirational post a week that could be put into my future book. We’ll see. If it is, then I would say that I’m making progress.

2) If you could completely start your life over from scratch, what would you do differently the second time around (if anything)? Why?

I would have bought Microsoft when it was going public. I told my dad to buy it and he did very well. I missed out on my own good advice. But I was too busy planning my wedding and swooning over my fiance to think about my financial future!

3) What do you think you’ll be like when you’re 70, 80, 90, possibly even 100 years old? Where do you think you’ll be living, and what activities do you think you’ll enjoy?

I tell my children I want them each to have 6 children. That makes at least 36 grand children. I also tell them that they are never to put momma in a nursing home. Twelve months divides neatly into six groups of two. That means if I need assistance I’ll leave with each child for two months and then move on. That’s enough time to live with me and still love me when I leave.

I will still be writing in some way. Or dictating it into the computer whichever is easiest.

4) What ages do you think have been the best for you so far? Why? What do you think of your current age…are you enjoying it? Are you looking forward to your next birthday?

The year I’m in is by far the best. I was telling my husband how much of a privilege it is to grow old with him. Watching one graduate from high school as one graduates from diapers is an amazing accomplishment for me. We did it! We set out to homeschool our children and 17 years later. I have my first one ready to move on to what God has for her. But no time to rest, there are still 5 more to work on.

By the way, since your post and mine both talked about marriage, did you see the Forbes article that caused all a big kerfuffle in the blogosphere and in offices around the nation?

One of the male writers dared to tell men not to marry a career woman. I blogged about it here.

La Shawn is doing a meme each Friday that looks back at her life.

1) What haven’t you done yet in your life that you’d really like to do someday? Why? Will you do any of those things in the near future? Are you making progress toward them?

I would like to write a book. (Doesn’t every blogger say that!) This blog may be that book someday. We’ll see. If it is, then I would say that I’m making progress.

2) If you could completely start your life over from scratch, what would you do differently the second time around (if anything)? Why?

I would have bought Microsoft when it was going public. I told my dad to buy it and he did very well. I missed out on my own good advice.

3) What do you think you’ll be like when you’re 70, 80, 90, possibly even 100 years old? Where do you think you’ll be living, and what activities do you think you’ll enjoy?

I tell my children I want them each to have 6 children. That makes at least 36 grand children. I also tell them that they are never to put momma in a nursing home. Twelve months divides neatly into six groups of two. That means if I need assistance I’ll leave with each child for two months and then move on. That’s enough time to live with me and still love me when I leave. That’s assuming they have WIFI. I’ll still be blogging about all the things I think and believe.

4) What ages do you think have been the best for you so far? Why? What do you think of your current age…are you enjoying it? Are you looking forward to your next birthday?

The year I’m in is by far the best. I was just telling my husband how much of a privilege it is to grow old with him. I have one about to graduate from high school and another who just graduated out of diapers. We did it! We set out to homeschool and our first is about to graduate. Not to rest though I still have 5 more to go.

I’m almost 44 and yes I am looking forward to it. Who wouldn’t be. La Shawn each breath we take is from the Lord. Take in as much air as you can because it may be your last. Make each moment count. That’s how I live. “Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it as unto the Lord.” Who wouldn’t want to make it one more year when just living each day is a blessing from HIS hand.

I found LaShawn Barber’s site a while ago and I appreciate what she has to say.  Today, it is some questions that she has posed that caught my eye.  Grrr, great timing.  TMEW and I are at the same crossroad…

I did the above, starting approximately 20 years ago. I had 5 goals. I achieved 4 of them. I retired when I was 55 (one of my goals) which involved a lot of planning, creativity and sensible choices.

Of course, life happens and we all have to or may want to adjust our goals and some may never be met, but it was amazing to me how well this works.

A year and a half a go I started planning a London/Paris trip for now. My job was done away with almost a year ago, and I was unemployed for a while. I am back to work, but my new job has a weak vacation benefit. It will be a few years before I can accrue enough time to travel overseas.

Do you like swans?

I like swans. They are beautiful creatures.

My first degree was in biology, and I took several course on animal behavior. A fascinating field. Years later, when I decided to study literature and went to graduate school, I took a part time job as a glass bottom boat captain at Aquareena Springs, in San Marcos.

There was a pair of breeding swans on the lake. And I spent several months just observing them. This is what I saw.

The male and female never left the presence of their offspring. Every day the female would take the signets over to the nesting area, and the male would go out into the middle of the lake, where he would splash around, dive and spread his wings.

He was establishing his territory, letting every other animal in the area know that this was where he lived, slept and raised his offspring. He was also checking to make sure there were no water snakes, racoons or rats trying to move into his territory.

He would then swim over to the nesting area and stay with the signets, while the female went out onto the lake, splashed around, dove and spread her wings. She was double checking, but she was also letting all the other animals in the area know that this was where she lived, slept and raised her offspring.

It doesn’t require a PhD in logic to understand why. There are lots of animals–not just snakes, racoons and rats–who love to eat little baby swans. And these adults were not about to let some predator prey upon their children. They accepted their responsibilities without question.

I came away from observing this behavior with one question. Isn’t it disgusting that a bird, with a brain the size of a walnut, has more intellectual capacity for understanding its responsibility as a parent than a human being has?