REGRET FREE LIVING? OK BOOMER

Regret free living is a goal to start out, then things change.

One day anything is possible. The next? Not so much.

Somehow we learn about our limitations, that we need to accept things as they are.

But, correct me if I’m wrong, there’s still some wiggle room.

Every season we find new sports stars to worship.

The Kid gets hot and leads their team to a championship.

The Old Veteran takes his team to the top one more improbable time before fading away.

They play regret free on the field and we love them for it.

Things change when we learn more about their off-field lives.

A retired legend comes to town, fans celebrate, and it’s all good until a local news personality reports that she was propositioned.

Why can’t a guy with a good reputation keep it clean? (Hey Mickey)

Some sad lothario once said that if you propositioned ten women for sex that one of them would say yes.

In baseball terms you’d bet hitting .100, which is not a good average.

But if you’re retired, in your forties or fifties, and take a ten city tour and hit up ten women at each stop, what’ve you got?

A sad life, that’s what you’ve got. And maybe a few STDs.

Back in the day no one mentioned it and the former star goes home to his wife and family like nothing happened.

Impossible you say? Well, it’s not just horn-dog ball players.

 

An eccentric billionaire named H. L. Hunt met a woman, got married, and had a family. Then he met a second woman and had a secret family. Then he met a third woman and had another secret family. Then he died and the three families confronted each other across an ocean of money.

 

In 1973 a couple of New York Yankees worked on their regret free living by trading wives and families.

How did the work out for them?

 

Work On Those Regrets

My time at the altar came with a promise to myself: I’ll get married once and I won’t be the problem.

So far so good after nearly thirty-eight years, two kids, two daughters in-law, and two grandkids.

Boring, right? Just the way I like it.

I signed up, kissed the bride, and the rest is history.

For my kids’ weddings I wore nice suits and tried not to cry too much.

Those were two days I’ll always remember. Two Portland weddings for my favorite people in the world.

Is it different for parents with new spouses when they show up for family events, if they’re even invited?

I don’t know and don’t want to know as long as everyone keeps their shit together.

My Mom and Dad came to my wedding with their new spouses and it went off as planned, so disaster was averted.

For the most part it was a regret free day.

Did it rain and snow? Yes. Was it an outdoor wedding? Yes.

Was it one of the best days of my life? That, and more.

Who else got married the day Chernobyl rain fell on the bride and groom?

Johnny Cash says he got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout, but that was in Jackson, not Sandy, Oregon.

Our Honeymoon included a freak May snow storm, a first night at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, and a Mother’s Day brunch the next day while the parking lot was busy with emergency vehicles and personnel.

While we were starting our lives together, other families had losses on the mountain.

 

Big Regrets? Here’s A List

I’ve got uncles who were big guys, 6’5″ kind of big.

My brothers all measured in at 6’2″, same height as my Dad.

But, as usual, I say I’m 6’3″ in shoes. With insoles. Maybe taller on tiptoes.

Not 6’5″, and it wouldn’t have made any difference except for the expectations of taller.

 

Bigger, faster, stronger, is how the experts compare today’s athletes to yesteryear’s heroes.

I wasn’t bigger, faster, or stronger.

What I had, and still possess, is endurance and commitment and fortitude.

I didn’t lift weights regularly in high school or college. I do now.

Long distance running didn’t appeal to me, then it did.

In my prime I could run a mile under six minutes, which is a nice standard.

Today I might take fifteen minutes. I need to clock my walk.

I did figure out how to get big: eat and drink, then eat and drink some more.

No one wants to see 300 lbs on the scale, but it happens. Not to me, but it happens.

Once I saw 280 I dropped down. My last competitive wrestling match was at 180.

You do the math. High school wrestlers who gain 100 lbs over the weight they wrestled? Hello.

 

Boomerpdx is nothing if not a testament to fortitude. Write, write, and write some more.

Just open a vein and bleed on the keyboard? That’s what Hemingway advised.

Luckily I’ve got a tolerant wife who encourages the old blogger.

She even leaves comments on posts now and then.

Do you leave comments on blog posts you like?

Blogging the way I do it takes courage and commitment to pour out a thousand words.

It’s the same courage it takes to leave a comment.

I freeze up all the time on social media.

If I see a post I like I check the author before commenting one way or the other, write it out, then delete.

Writing a blog flexes different muscles.

If I write it down it’s hard to delete.

The importance of the moment is documented here, important to me, working toward importance to others.

My goal is to distill moments into words, then arrange them in the best way possible.

It’s called writing for the people while I write for myself.

The best part of the day comes after dialing up a blog post.

After that I do my King of the World strut.

And now it’s time to warm up my high step.

One, two, three, four, let’s go, go, go.

(1000 words)