Life

When a guy is stuck in Springfield, IL for the night, there's not much better to do than sit at your favorite Irish bar and drink a few cold ones. I've been trying to develop a taste for whiskey and an Irish bar is a good place to further that goal. Plus, my favorite beer Blue Moon was on sale for $2 last night. After a couple whiskeys and a couple beers, I got to thinking about some of the cool things I've done in my life and took the opportunity to write them down. Now, before Sarah gets a bunch of emails, these are not in any particular order.

Here's the (incomplete list). I'm thinking of more things all the time.

• Watched two great boys born at Grant Hospital.
• Watched Tiger win the Tiger Slam at Augusta National.
• Played football for the Massillon Tigers.
• Won thousands of dollars playing blackjack in a casino.
• Drank Coronas and Margaritas in Tijuana.
• Shook a President's (Bush I) hand.
• Studied in Spain prior to graduating from college.
• Watched the Buckeyes win a national championship in Tempe AZ.
• Got married in Las Vegas to a great girl.
• Backpacked through Europe.
• Met Jack Nicklaus.
• Flew on an airplane on September 11 and got stranded in a far-a-way city.
• Drank Dom Perignon from the bottle and stood on a balcony on Bourbon Street throwing beads to the throng below.
• Scuba dived off Key West and the Bahamas.
• Played college football at the University of Dayton.
• Worked for the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Have earned a million dollars in salary over my life.
• Attended the last Indian game at Municipal Stadium and the first at Jacobs Field.
• Got to tell my mom how much I loved her while she was still able to understand before she passed away.
• Walked to the top of the U.S. Capitol Building, something you must be accompianed by a Member of Congress to do.
• Caught large mouth bass on the St. John River south of Jacksonville.
• Attended George Bush and GW Bush Inaugural balls.
• Golfed Firestone South golf course numerous times.
• Drank beers in Mexico, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, the U.S., Greece, Germany, Belgium, England, Netherlands, Jamaica, Caymans, and Switzerland.
• Spoke at the podium where Abraham Lincon gave his famous "a House divided can not stand" speech.
• Watched the U.S. set two world records in track at the Olympics in Barcelona.
• Visited Napa Valley and sampled the wine.
• Attended the Indianapolis 500.
• Influenced legislators to pass legislation saving my company millions of dollars.
• Swam naked in the Mediterranean Ocean.
• Missed qualifying for the State Championships in the 400 Relay by 1/100 of a second my sophomore year in h.s.
• Sailed in Key West for a week in February.
• Ate a private lunch with the Spanish Ambassador to the U.S.
• Drank Jenever in Amsterdam and saw all the famous red light tourist sites.
• Attended an NBA game and sat in $300 seats with my feet on the floor.
• Never done an illegal drug in my life.
• Attended baseball games at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. Plus, games in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia, NY Yankees, San Diego, San Francisco.
• Attended the Kentucky Derby, in both the infield and the good seats, stayed in a Super 8 and the Seelbach, and drank mint juleps at Churchill Downs.
• Steered a Cigarette boat off Miami.
• Ate crawfish and shrimp in the Louisiana sticks.
• Made tens of thousands of dollars on a single stock and lost the equivalent on another.
• Attended the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Republican Conventions.
• Won multiple volleyball games on the beach in Cozumel.
• Became a VIP at Mortons.
• Attended a game in SF that Bonds hit the game winning homerun a few seats away after throwing out the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th. I'm not a Bonds fan.
• Never won a baseball championship but was selected to 3 All-Star teams in Little League plus.
• Oh man, had a good time.

This morning, Henry asked me how old I would be on my next birthday. When I told him 42, he said “whoa, that’s a lot”. I laughed because I guess he is right in a lot of ways.

I’ve never really feared death. When I was in my 20s, I just wanted to get to 30. When that happened, I wanted to get to 40. Now that’s here and gone but I have a much different take on it now. I want to get to an age where my kids are old and wise. I want them to grow up with an active and loving father like both Sarah and I had. I just can’t imagine not being around when Henry and Jack are growing up. So now I’ve pushed that date I want to reach to 60. I’ll worry about 70 at that point.

And I guess I want to enjoy some of the money I’ve socked away over the years. Right now I’m looking to retire at age 65 but that is all dependent on a million things. I could leave a lot earlier but it depends on things out of my control like the stock market. And college costs. And just what Sarah will be doing; our age difference makes things a bit interesting here although I’m sure she would like to retire at 50, who wouldn’t?

But I’m not really sure what retirement would mean for me. The usual travel, golf, relax all sounds nice but it almost seems as if there should be a goal of some kind when I get there. I’ve always wanted to sail, if not around the world, at least to warm weather spots when it’s cold in Ohio. But Ohio, is that where retirement leads? Seems like there are warmer places that might be better suited to my hobbies. Especially if it involves a sailboat. I guess living in Key West or sailing the Caribbean during the winter and having a place somewhere north wouldn’t be a bad life. I can live the Jimmy Buffet life. I might even start thinking about 80 years old.