THE PATH

The quotes below have been meaningful in my life. To them, I say thank you. 

I HAVE USED THEM AS MY GUIDE. IT WILL

 GIVE YOU SOME INSIGHT ON

WHAT’S TO FOLLOW.

DO NOT FOLLOW WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD

Go instead where there is no path

And leave a trail.

RALH WALDO EMERSON

LIFE

Do not cry because it is ending,

Live in joy because it

 Happened

I DON’T KNOW WHO SAID THAT

BUT THEY WERE RIGHT.

If a person sees the world at 50

The same way they saw it at 20

They have wasted 30 years.

Muhammad Ali

Adventure is worthwhile.

ARISTOTLE     

PERHAPS

Life is either a daring adventure 

Or nothing at all.

HELLEN KELLER

LIFE IS A FOUR-ACT PLAY

And you are the lead actor.

JOHN RESECK JR.

ACT I BEGINS AT BIRTH AND CONCLUDES AROUND THE AGE OF FIFTEEN.

Act II STARTS WHEN ACT I STOPS, AROUND 15 YEARS.

ACT III STARTS AT THE END OF ACT II, AROUND 65 YEARS  

THE START OF ACT IV, THAT’S THE END

THERE IS NO MORE

WE KNOW OF.

Perhaps there is

Once we are free 

But if there is, it’s not

Well-known to me.

I’ll wait to see 

What is to

 be.

FORWARD

THIS WILL BE A SERIES OF POEMS

And of poetic writing that breaks most of the academic rules.

I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT.

IT IS JUST MY WAY.

I AM NOT A POET

I JUST WRITE WHAT

MY HEART HAS TO SHARE

IT IS A GLANCE INTO MY WORLD

I AM INVITING YOU TO VISIT ME THERE.

FOR 52 WEEKS

ONCE A WEEK FOR TEN MINUTES, AND I WILL SHARE

SOME OF MY PATHS WITH YOU.

SOME WILL BE INTERESTING

SOME WILL BE LAUGHABLE

SOME WILL BE STUPID

BUT ALL NECESSARY

TO LIVE THE LIFE

 I CHOSE TO

LIVE.

John Reseck Jr    

I WILL BE HERE NEXT WEEK.

1. You must let the past go or it will interfere with your future.

2.The more you are aware of the mistakes you make, and not in denial, the

    fewer mistakes you will make.

3. Confusing Mistakes with failure, is a mistake.

4. Believing other people have it easier than you do is a mistake.

5. Rejection and happiness are in the head. We can choose the reaction.

6. Mistakes are our portals for discovery.

7. It is easy to adapt, if you do not have pre-programmed ideas of what you deserve.

8. If you wish to be free, then you must allow me to be free also.

9. The music created by the wind moving the leaves of a tree is far more complicated than that created by the Best Symphony Orchestra. It calms my inner self.

10. Are rocks alive? Are they just living on a timeline that we do not understand. They form from the earth, and they erode back into it. That is what all living things do. Different building blocks but the same bottom line of existing. Only on a different timeline.

11. I visited the 2000 year-old pines, high in the mountains. They were all bent out of shape. I heard another tourist, like myself, say. ”They are ugly things. I can’t even call it a tree anymore. They are useless.”

When I looked at them, I saw history. They were telling us about the earth and its history. The dendrochronologist can read the rings in the trees. They write a history book of the earth. I read the book and fell in love with the tree. It had a hard life, but it handled it and left us its autobiography.

12. I would like to have a T-shirt that has written on it, Don’t count me out. I’m not dead yet.

13. Life is like a bowl of cherries, but you must know how to spit out the pits,

14. Old age doesn’t sneak up on you. You start the process when you are one day old. If you become old, be thankful. Most people never have that privilege, and you won’t get a second chance to make it work. Don’t waste time thinking about what you’ve lost. Think only about what you have. And be thankful.

15. A bit about hearing. A couple of conversations between a hard-of-hearing person and one who isn’t. : )

“I like this book I’m reading. Would you like a copy

No, I don’t think so. I don’t need any more coffee. This morning. I’ve already had two cups.

Do you read much?

No. I set my cruise control at the limit, and I never speed.

Well, I read a lot. That’s just what I do.

Oh, do you want me to help?

With what?

 Well, to tie your shoe

 My shoes not undone.

I know it’s not fun. But you may fall if you run.

Are you crazy?

No, I’m not lazy. I’m willing to help.

I don’t think you’re hearing me right.

What was that about tonight??

Just forget it. Let’s have dinner.

Yes, you could be a little thinner.

That was not kind.

What is it that you want to find?

A man with more than half a brain.

You’re right. I am in a lot of pain.”

Have you ever sat down and wondered how you got into the situation you find yourself in? Everything seems to be happening at once, and you feel overwhelmed.  

Life is what goes on around you. 99% of it is not in our control. Our life is what goes on in our world that we live in. We like to think we are in control of that. Occasionally, we lose control and end up in the situations described above. I have just had such an experience and would like to share it with you.

I had a two-week period where the following things all were happening. I am selling my condo, and the real-estate lady is doing a great job of keeping me informed on the activity about the sale. She calls me often so I stay informed.  A good thing.

I had gone blind in my left eye due to a cataract and needed surgery to remove it. I made an appointment for the surgery.

I developed bad pains in my abdomen. I went to the local emergency room. They decided that it was my gall bladder and put me in the hospital. I was told they could not take it out until the infection was cured. I spent four days in a hospital bed. The only clothes I had on was a gown that only covered my front half.

I was told I was being discharged in an hour. I needed someone to take home. I called Karin; she could not come, she was at her doctor’s office. She said she would find someone to come get me.

There was a man , asleep, in the other bed of my room.

I’m all tucked in bed and have to empty my bladder. All the above is needed to know, to understand what happened next.

I was alone with my roommate sleeping. I took my urinal, pushed down the blanks and pulled up my gown, so I could place the urinal in place just as three visitors came to visit my roommate. I quickly pulled my blankets up to my waist to cover the urinal.

A nurse came in with discharge papers for me to sign and put them on my table. I was signing them when my phone rang. My daughter was calling to tell me she was coming to pick me up. I went back to signing papers. The phone rang again. It was my real estate lady wanting to tell me about the open house she had just come from. I told her I was busy and would call her back. I signed one more paper and that nurse left, then the phone rang again. It was Karin telling me she had reached Diane to pick me up.

All of this took place in 15 minutes while I was covertly urinating and hoping the urinal was in the proper location. I had no way of telling.  The roommate’s visitors stayed for 15 minutes more and left.

I carefully pushed the covers down to see if I had a mess or a successful challenge. Once again, I cheated death. The urinal was full.

My life is like a play on the Act III stage. The only hard part is I don’t always get to write the script. When I left the hospital, I was hungry for some real food and went out for dinner. I told the waiter that I was really hungry, asked what was on the menu would he recommend? He thought for a few seconds and said, “A bowl of rice, (I must have looked confused because he added), It comes with 1,500 pieces”. I thought my trainer was the only one who understood me. When I asked him what exercise machine I should use to make me irresistible to beautiful women? He said, “For you it would have to be the ATM machine”.

Life is so much fun if you live it and don’t sit on the sideline and just watch the game. Get in there and catch a few passes. If you want to move ahead, you must choose friends that want to, also. Don’t let them leave you behind. Push them, make them keep up with you.

HOOAAAAAA

MEET THE CHALLENGE

YOU CAN DO IT.

As I watch the Olympics, I am reminded of how much everything around us in our life Changes. I was watching the Judo matches and couldn’t figure out what was happening. There were penalties being called that I didn’t see occurring. There was no mat work allowed at all. The contestants didn’t look or fight like the Judo I competed in. I participated until I was well into my 40s, and took a third place in the nationals in my teens. We competed then under Kodokan rules, straight from Japan. They were very different. All competitors lined up in a single line, with the loser rank at the start progressing to the highest ranked at the other end. The competitors are then counted off by twos — 1..2..1..2..1..2, etc. All the ones formed a line on one side of the room. Keeping the same order, low to high rank. All the twos formed a line on the other side of the room, also keeping the same order. The person at the first of each line were the first match. This meant they were close to or the same rank. The winner stayed up and took on the next person in the other line, who was the same or a higher rank. If you won, you stayed up to take the next in line. There was no rest period between matches, and each time you had a higher rank competitor. One way of earning a higher rank was by staying up and beating three consecutive people of the next higher rank. In our competition we could win with a choke that made your opponent tap-out, or a hold down of your opponent on their back controlling their head and an arm or leg for 30 seconds. A clean throw of your opponent to their back was an instant win.

I guess like in football, the rules have been changed to support fewer injuries. Everything I was taught to do when I played in the early 1950s is illegal now. I think the changes have really altered the sports. I hope for the better. At least they are safer.

What changes can you make in your life to make it safer? Remember cars are not the only things that can be recalled by their maker.

Some test questions to see if you are.

Do you stand up when they play the Star-Spangle Banner?

Do you remember the lessons the world should, from World War II?

And recognize the Hitler syndrome when someone has it?

If you bump into someone on the sidewalk, do you say, “I’m sorry”?

Do you hold the door open for the people behind you?

Do you get embarrassed if someone cusses in front of a woman, or

angry if it is around children?

Do you brag about your grandchildren and not about yourself?

Do you respect the military, past and present, because you realize they

 are the ones who have kept our freedom intact?

If you answered yes to all the above, you are a true TOPATEOTS and we need you to act as mentors/examples for the rest of us. Keep your head up and be proud of who and what you are –

 The Old Person At The End Of The Street.

When I was younger, I always had more things to look forward to than I could do. Now at 90 the list is much smaller. I am not physically able to do much of anything. It is very important to have a carrot on a string right out in front that we keep striving to reach. It is a good reason to keep yourself working at staying alive. At 90 staying alive is your default job.

When I looked at my list a few years ago I found trips on Cruise ships were on the top. We, Karin and I, took a 14-day cruise to Alaska to see if we could stay happy on the boat that long. That was a mistake. We discovered that wasn’t long enough.

The next year we took a 35-day cruise. Still not enough.

The next year it was a 95-day cruise. Still not enough.

Next year, 2025, we are signed on to a 133-day cruise. It goes from pole to pole.

HOOAAAAAA

I love Alaska. It is an environment that speaks to my heart. Over the past fifteen years I have taken nine cruses up the inland passage just to see what a true wilderness is and keep the image fresh in the front of my mind.

I did one trip on the ferry from Port Hardy in Canada to Skagway Alaska at the end of the in-land passage, then flew home. I got off at every stop and stayed for two to four days in each town/village. It was a great way to see the culture and meet the true Alaskan.

On another trip we flew to Anchorage and rented an RV. We spent two weeks seeing the inland parts, Fairbanks, Denali, and even flew in a small plane and landed on a glacier area half way up the Denali Mountain.

On another trip we were going to see the Northen light in the winter. We were gone for four days. Flying to Anchorage and having a great train ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks, we stood out at night for over three hours in minus 27-degree weather and think we might have seen some Northen lights. In four days, we only had six hours of sun light. It was winter. I decided not to move there.

My most recent voyage was a nine-day trip from Seattle to Skagway at the end of the inland passage. It is day eight on our way home and we haven’t seen the sun once. It has been raining every day and we could not stop at Icey Striates where I wanted to do the zip line. It is the longest one in the world, over a mile long. I will keep it on my bucket list. Perhaps in the summer of 2024 I will get back, to zip line from the top of the mountain to the town a mile below.

Even with rain every day and fog most days, it was still a great trip. My heart knew where we were and my memory archives, my collection of yesterdays, let me see it all again. One of the advantages of old age is a large archives bank. I can travel to all the continents, whenever I want and never even leave home.