I know many of us lately are feeling overwhelmed by the constant barrage of news and social media.  So much so that it’s hard to focus on what is happening around us in our own lives.  But sometimes, you must stop worrying about media reports of the world at large and pay attention to what is actually happening around you.  There are times when we must focus on ourselves and our immediate surroundings.

Which reminds me of a story I’ve shared before about a potential disaster in my own backyard that was successfully averted by quick thinking and action on the part of my stepsons and me.  I’ve lived in houses with swimming pools for most of my life.  And while having a swimming pool is a welcome luxury in the summer heat of Los Angeles, it also presents a constant danger.  We have always deadbolted the door out to the pool, and it is always the first place we’ve searched for a young child if they went temporarily missing.  Fortunately, we’ve been lucky to never have to rescue a child!

But, years ago, I was in bed late one Sunday morning reading the newspaper, when one of my stepsons raced into our bedroom frantically.  The housekeeper had jumped into the deep end of the pool and apparently didn’t know how to swim. She was now floating on the bottom.  This was a true emergency.  Sometimes, you have to stop reading the news and take immediate action at home.  While Susan dialed 911, I dove into the pool.

One of my stepsons helped me to pull the woman out, over the side of the pool. Fortunately, she was still breathing.  The medics arrived, and they took her with them for observation.

Never was the statement truer than in this story — all’s well that ends well.  The housekeeper was fine, the two boys were heroes.  I never did finish reading the Sunday Times, but I’m resharing this story today as a reminder to all of us, that sometimes, the most exciting story is not in the newspaper, but in your own backyard.

Alan

It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m about to take a walk around the block. I’ll be back in twenty minutes to start working on my blog.

Fast forward. It’s now early Monday morning, and my usual pattern has persisted. I seldom finish my work unless I have a deadline looming, and my blog is no exception.  I need to finish the first draft by noon on Monday to allow enough time for editing, locating a photo, and posting on Monday afternoon. I intended to finish this blog yesterday after my walk but . . .

I am pleased that I have, in fact, posted a blog every week, without fail, for more than ten years.

But here it is Monday morning, and I have yet to write the blog I intended to write yesterday.  But now the deadline is near, so I will tell you about my walk, in which I appreciated the world around me, writ small.

A few houses down from mine where the road meets a driveway there are two small seeds that are beginning to sprout a few forlorn leaves, a gentle reminder that Spring is under foot (and also under car tires if we don’t drive carefully). The trees are fully leafing out and several bushes have graced us with a fragrant floral display.

Perhaps this will be the year we will actually landscape the gardens in the front and back of our house.  But since there is no set deadline, it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll finally get it done. I assume that Spring will return next year, as it has for many millennia, and the gardens will be there patiently waiting for new landscaping.

But I digress. I intend to write about taking pleasure in noticing all the treasures large and small that can be discovered on a walk. There are many. Yesterday I noticed two large tree trunk stubs more than three feet wide where tall trees used to provide shade, a reminder of how ephemeral and temporary we are, as even the strongest and tallest of trees eventually disappear.

While I love walking in nature, I’m often distressed by the way people thoughtlessly leave their trash for others to clean up. Plastic cups, soda cans and other trash appear afresh every day. Don’t people drinking from plastic cups have mothers who told them to never throw their trash out of the car window?

Perhaps it’s cultural neglect. On my recent three week visit to Japan I only saw one plastic cup on the street the entire time.

Perhaps Robert Frost, who opined the world would end in either fire or ice, should have considered a third alternative. Maybe the world will end up as a single gigantic trash heap.

When I begin either my walk or my blog, I never know where it’s going to lead. I do know, however, that there is so much to be discovered, and there are many surprise treats along the way.

You just have to notice them.

Alan

Our lives are measured in minutes. The minutes that matter, and then all the other minutes. I call the minutes that matter, the “Cash In” minutes.

The “Cash In” minutes are those in which something wonderful happens: your special friend says, “Yes;” your report card is your best one ever; you’ve been hired for your dream job!

How do we maximize our “Cash In” minutes? I’ll answer that with a classic joke.

A man carrying a violin case was rushing through Times Square.  A stranger stopped him and asked, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

The violinist shook his head, and said, “Practice, practice, practice.”

I am the son of a man whose profession was playing the French Horn in orchestras that created the soundtrack for major motion pictures. I believe he played in the orchestra that recorded the soundtrack for “The Sound of Music,” and also for “Around the World in Eighty Days.” I imagine both of those experiences were filled with “Cash-In” minutes.

But dad practiced on his French Horn for two or three hours daily.  Musicians at that time, were only permitted by the Musician’s Union to work a maximum of ten hours a week. So there were a lot more practice hours than “Cash-In” hours for my dad.

But isn’t that the way the world works?   Every day we’re mostly preparing for the “Big Show.”  (To a baseball player that would be the World Series, to a poet, winning the Pulitzer, and to an entrepreneur, a successful company launch.) While “Cash-In” moments might be different for each of us, we all have to put in enough practice time to give ourselves the best chance at achieving those moments.

Today I’m writing my blog. Tomorrow you’ll be reading it.

Cash In moments for us both.

Thanks.

Alan