SETTING GOALS IN TIME, NEW GOALS

Setting goals is more a lifestyle than anything.

We want more, we want less, we want what we don’t have.

What’s the one thing you never have enough of?

Time.

But, you can make time.

Making time is all about setting goals.

If you want to do something bad enough, you find time.

Here’s how I made time for my younger brother’s high school graduation:

At the time, June of 1976, I was living in an apartment in Center City Philadelphia.

That’s where the Army thought I’d be of best service. I’d be leaving in September, so going home in June seemed excessive.

But I was setting goals back then, and one of them was being a big brother and seeing the kid graduate.

My travel plans weren’t as thorough as they are these days of husband and wife travel.

It was just me with a plane ticket to Portland with no connection to North Bend. I’d figure it out when I got there.

For the occasion I bought a tan corduroy suit from Brooks Brothers, or Sears, so I was looking fine.

From Portland I road the Greyhound to Eugene. Then what?

I’d figure it out when I got there.

Eugene To North Bend The Long Way

I had the number of a guy in Eugene.

I called and learned he and his girlfriend had broken up. He left and she stayed.

She picked me up from the bus depot and dropped me off south of town.

My plan was to hitchhike from Eugene to North Bend before dark.

In a tan corduroy suit from Sears I thumbed my way to Drain and got stuck.

The Drain policeman picked me up for questioning, as if he’d never seen a tan suit in town.

We hit it off and I went on patrol with him for an hour before he drove me further south back to I-5.

Instead of standing on the side of Hwy 38 all night, I’d hitch it down to Ashland where my older brother lived with his wife and ride to North Bend with them.

I changed clothes on the side of road while the moon rose over then hills of Sutherlin.

A few hours later a truck stopped and picked me up. They were part of a roofing convoy headed further south.

I left Philadelphia the morning before and planed, bussed, and hitched rides all day and all night because that’s what you do when you’re setting goals and following through.

This would never work today, or would it?

Setting Goals That Stick

The crew dropped me off at a gas station with a pay phone on the corner.

While I was dialing up big brother’s number a runner jogged by.

I stepped out of the booth and yelled at them.

It was my sister in-law. The timing was perfect.

She ran back home to get the car and picked me up.

I slept all the way from Ashland to North Bend.

That night I sat in the crowd watching my little brother get his diploma.

2

If you’re wondering ‘what’s the big deal with setting goals’ I’ll tell you.

My goal was getting someplace on time, and I made it happen.

Did it matter to anyone else? Not much in a hectic time.

There’s so much going on, but I wanted to be there.

My grandparents almost made it, but got sidetracked at Loon Lake and took the backroads over Deans Mountain.

They’d started in Bend where my Grandpa was a retired timber faller and Grandma was the smartest lady in any room she entered.

They showed up late and worried my mom sick.

I was there cracking jokes and feeling jet-lag goofy.

Grandma thought I might be ‘on drugs.’

I explained the euphoria of setting goals and meeting them.

She approved. Later we all drank beers and smoked a joint she rolled.

Or maybe it was a cup of tea and a cookie.