Echoes and Stars

As we creep ever closer to my 40th I thought about doing 10 regrets. But that just seemed depressing and I couldn’t come up with that many anyway. So let’s look forward, shall we?

The following are 10 hopes for the next 40:

1. To love my wife the way my Dad loves my mom. To hurt because something hurts her and not simply because it gets in the way. To hang on tight till the end of our days here and we move on ahead.

2. To not have my feelings numbed by the shear weight of years stacked upon years. To laugh easily and be moved by beauty and ugliness.

3. To never grow out of the joy of having the windows down and the music up. To still enjoy the moment and take the long way home.

4. To be a better friend. To fight against the natural desire to be insular and tertiary to other people’s lives. And vice versa.

5. To be comfortable in this aging skin. Getting upset about getting old is as foolish as wishing grass wasn’t green. I want to look in the mirror and smile merely because I’m there.

6. To keep pressing against the tide of unknowing. My memory has finished it’s continual unabated waxing and now often wanes. But I don’t wanna forget how it feels to hold the relatively new hands of my beautiful kids.

7. I want to still get the chills when “Backstreets” streams out of my speakers. I want to be moved by “Carrickfergus” and “What A Little Moonlight Can Do”.

8. I want to learn how read the Bible as a worshipper and not a teacher or preacher. I want to use a diving board and dive in and relish the submersion. I don’t want to use it as a springboard.

9. To be less insecure about who I am. Justification should be the death knell for this but often it is just not so. Being less insecure would mean less reaction and more laughter.

10. To never tire of being stunned by the night sky. To not stop stopping and looking up. Taking the time to be dazzled by all those things which shine large and bright.