The Voice of Destinytag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-12882962009-11-27T12:21:04-05:00TypePadSoon That Will Be...tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8346fbce353ef012875e414bd970c2009-11-27T12:21:04-05:002009-11-27T12:22:52-05:00It is the after Thanksgiving blahs. You know, when you feel lousy not only because you ate too much, but because you are disappointed in yourself that you ate too much. This too shall pass! Thanksgiving is one of my...Paul Taylor
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="http://thevoiceofdestiny.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8346fbce353ef012875e413ce970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Family in Boston" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8346fbce353ef012875e413ce970c image-full " src="http://thevoiceofdestiny.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8346fbce353ef012875e413ce970c-800wi" style="width: 446px; height: 308px;" title="Family in Boston" /></a> <br /> <br /> It is the after Thanksgiving blahs.<span>  </span>You know, when you feel lousy not only
because you ate too much, but because you are disappointed in yourself that you
ate too much.<span>  </span>This too shall pass!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it is a
time to share memories and not gifts that you feel pressured into buying, but
know your budget doesn’t allow.<span>  </span>As you
get older memories become so much more important than gifts.<span>  </span>Memories not only allow you to reminisce, but
they also allow you to discover things about your family you may never have
known.<span>  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have always enjoyed listening to the older generation as
they shared all kinds of stories dating back to their childhood when a movie
was ten cents and popcorn a nickel. <span> </span>When
you could fill your gas tank for a dollar and cars were hard to come by. <span> </span>To hear grandparents talk to their grown grand
children about when they use to play house or dress up.<span>  </span>I can hear my daughter say, “I remember that!”
and smile.<span>  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then we played a DVD of my aunt’s life.<span>  </span>She just passed away several weeks ago.<span>  </span>I didn’t know her that well, but what I did
know was that she was a wonderful person.<span> 
</span>Dad sort of narrated the pictures as they moved as a slide show on the
TV.<span>  </span>He became pretty emotional as he saw
his mother and father in the picture.<span>  </span>“There’s
Momma and Dad at their 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary” as his voice cracked.<span>  </span>It was then that I realized how important the
wonderful memories with our family really are to living a full life.<span>  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have been reading about the “Good Men Project.”<span>  </span>It is about men sharing their stories of
life.<span>  </span>Some of fatherhood, or being a
son, but most reflected the man they had become, based on the role model of the
father that went before them.<span>  </span>For every
good story about one’s father there had to be ten bad ones.<span>  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The one about the last son of eleven children really stuck
out.<span>  </span>Listen to a son who is now forty
and his father is eighty-seven.<span>  </span><em>“Many of the things I thought were important
when I was eighteen don’t seem important anymore, and many of the things I
thought were not, do.<span>  </span>I can’t quite say
what I’ve missed, but I want to know things.<span> 
</span>I want to know him if I can, and now, while I can.<span>  </span>And, if I can’t, I want to know stories, want
to know what happened.”<o:p></o:p></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Somewhere in our lives the past becomes important to our
future destiny.<span>  </span>It is a key that opens
the door to some of the reasons we are who we are.<span>  </span>Now my Mom and Dad are about to celebrate
their 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary and I realize soon that will be me.<span>  </span>Hopefully with few regrets!</p></div>