“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
On Friday night, I went with Jamie to see a Texas country music singer-songwriter in Galveston. His name is Jason Eady. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future” is a line from a new song he is just about to release. When Jason sang it, I pulled out my phone and typed it into my Notes app.
When most hear the word friends, they probably think of people. For some reason when Jason sang those lyrics, I thought about everything but people. What kind of friends am I referring to? Well, my closest non-person friend is my thoughts. I know that my future is brighter when I’m in a positive state of mind. Another friend, goals. When I keep my written goals close to me, I always have a better future. Food is my frenemy. This friend can kill you if you’re not careful. I allow my friends Ice Cream and Enchiladas a visit every now and then. However, hanging out with these cats too much translates into a quick downward spiral. Alone time is another good friend that can also have a negative side too. We all need a little alone time to reflect and keep things in check. But too much alone time and things can head south quickly. Humans were not meant to live our best life in solitude.
I think I’ll take an inventory of my “friends” and see if they are in alignment with the future I want.
Moving on, I stayed overnight in Galveston at the beautiful Hotel Galvez. It’s a really cool old hotel right on the seawall. I woke up Saturday morning and put on the running shoes and shorts like I do almost every day. I wanted to get my miles out of the way. I decided to run the sea wall since it was literally across the street. While out, I passed a monument. The monument said it was built to memorialize the construction of the Galveston Sea Wall in the early 1900s. In September of 1900, Galveston was obliterated by a hurricane. It killed 12,000 people. We didn’t have modern weather forecasting back then, so most did not know the hurricane was coming. Well, except for one guy named Issac Cline. If you want to read an AMAZING book, read Issac’s Storm. The storm hit in September of 1900. The city of Galveston secured the funding for the sea wall, completed the design, and started building the 16-foot tall, 3.3-mile barrier in October of 1902. They finished 22 months later in July of 1904. That’s fast! Like everything, your intensity to correct the problems you must tackle is usually in proportion to how hard reality slaps you in the face. As I often say, our best hope is that the lessons we learn are large enough to get us to permanently correct our course, but not so big that it kills us.
That reminds me of something a fellow pilot once told me. Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. Last week, I had a little incident while docking my sailboat. I gained some valuable “experience”. That’s a story for another day.
After I finished up my run, I went back to the hotel. When I returned, Jamie wanted to go on a walk. While we were out, I found a guitar pick. When I found it, it made me think of the concert from the night before and the note I took down in my phone. It also made me think about my own guitar. Maybe finding that pick was the Universe reminding me to write this quick story. Maybe it was a sign telling me to pick up the guitar again. Well, I wrote the story. Here it is. As for the guitar. I think that’s a pretty good friend I need to start spending more time with.
Take stock of your friends. Also, Find Your Adventure and Live Your Life.
PS-I’ve got another run coming up next week. I’ve decided that I’m done with road marathons. This year I’ve done 7 road marathons in 3 months. At my last marathon in Irving, I was on the starting line and I wasn’t feeling the challenge anymore. Oh sure, the miles kick my a$$, but when I started there was no doubt that I could finish. Years ago, I decided that “Uncertainty” is the key ingredient of an adventure. Next week’s run is my first official ultra-marathon. It’s a 30-miler in Waxahachie, Texas. I’ve thought about that distance in my mind; 30 miles is adding another hour to the end of a regular marathon. Yup, that’ll add some uncertainty. It also sounds like a real suck-fest too. The 3 ½ hour drive home afterward will probably suck as well. That’s okay, though. At least it’ll be an adventure.