Friday, June 13, 2014

Five for Friday: Five Decades

Tomorrow June 14 is the start of Decade #6. At this point I'm supposed to be full of wisdom. I'm not sure if that's true but if the 6th is anything like the last 5 it will be an amazing ride. Here are 5 things that count over the last 5 decades.



  1. Appreciation for what I was given - I was born in Bogota, Colombia and my first real memories are from Brazil. There I learned what poor looks like and it was eye opening. I've tried to never take my life for granted and I'm certainly never looked down on the poor. In fact just the opposite. I look up to anyone who works as hard as they do for so little. Just watching a man pushing a load of discarded wood and cardboard up a mountain road to use for shelter is something I will never forget. 
  2. Running - I started running when I was 17 because my brother ran and because my girlfriend ran. Neither continued one by choice and one by accident. Who knows where I would be today if neither of them were in my life at that time. Maybe I would have found running on my own but probably not. 
  3. Born in Kona, Raised in California! That's the Zoot brand mantra and it's also what happened during my 3rd decade. I went form telling my roommates that those people (Ironman People) are fucking crazy to actually doing the race 2 years later. That raced changed me. To set a goal, reach it and the go beyond in on a Saturday in October allowed me to set my sights further. I moved to California to chase that goal. 
  4. Mary and I got married when I was 29. We decided to wait at least 5 years to think about children. When we decided I was not sure I was ready and then Mary got pregnant. I would go back and maybe change a great deal in my life. I would not change this ever. Being a father is the most challenging thing in my life. It was challenging the day he was born and it still is today. I love it. It's much more rewarding than anything ever. 
  5. So much happened in the last 10 years it's difficult to pinpoint one thing. The most devastating was the passing of my father. The greatest experience was moving to Germany. 
Over the next 10 years our son will grow up and create a life of his own. How we get there is any guess right now but it's going to be a blast telling the story 10 years from now. 

It's a good life….

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