Stop And Smell The Roses

For some, that's the reason they want to slow down. Well I used to be that person; and you know, after a few minutes I got tired of smelling the roses. What I didn't get tired of was taking my 1979 Buick Skyhawk with the Roadhawk package and going between the farm and Kemper. I remember looking over and seeing things as a blur. Like a movie. Like Smokey and The Bandit. There is a saying that I know I will mangle: but it goes something like this: once a man has lived as a matador, its very hard to do anything else.

I think Beck and Wilkey are similar as they are still living as matadors. Others have slowed down. And that's great for them. All my friends that I know deserve happiness. Just don't try and re-write history or remember things differently now. Don't tell your kids to do one thing or say you never did, when I KNOW dam well you did.

As I said, I hate hypocrites, and I do try not to be one. Neither should you.

Also, as I write this I wonder, how much should I share? Am I afraid of putting it all out there. I don't know. I am not posting pictures of drunken debauchery (thank God there were no cell phones with cameras in my college days). But I also never did alot of stupid things. Did I do stupid things? Yes. Am I lucky to be alive in some cases? Yes. All in all, so far, (knock wood) I have had an interesting life. I remember saying something about it being a good day to die when I was at Kemper, wayyy before it became a Klingon saying. I remember I was between K barracks and A barracks. I don't remember the time of year, probably spring time, right when it was getting hot. It was a beautiful day, clear. A little hot, but not bad. And I remember commenting about the day being a good day to die. It was.

And no, not having any suicidal thoughts or anything like that. I was referring to the aspect that if you had to die, that day would have been good. Referring more to dying in combat. Also, at that time, never thought about death as something bad to look forward too with the coming of age. We were young, we were Kemper. We were going to live forever, or die trying.

And by remembering those times and those men and women, we do live forever until the last of us dies and takes those memories with them.

Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.