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Last Sunday I enjoyed the rare treat of attending the 85th birthday party of a dear friend I’ve known for more than sixty years. There were about three hundred guests, and, by total chance, I sat next to Burt, a man I had met in high school debate, many years ago.

We had much to reminisce about. It isn’t often I see friends, or even acquaintances, from my youth. (Although I am now in touch with Mike, my high school debate partner, and plan to visit him soon.)

As an eighty-five-year-old, I’m certainly interested in longevity.  My doctor says that genetics are important, which bodes well for me. My grandfather lived to be 94, and my father survived to 104. I’ve also made many life-style changes to improve my health, and my weight is more than sixty pounds below its high point of 268 about six years ago.

I have a note on my calendar to attend the high school graduation of my four-year-old granddaughter Delilah. That will be in the year 2040 and I will be 100. (As an aside – never ask Siri how long you might survive. Yesterday I posed the question, and the answer was a discouraging 5.1 years, so I don’t think I’ll ask again anytime soon.)

Since the length of anyone’s lifetime is unknown until the end, part of the fun is enjoying each day. My dad said that he didn’t count the years, he focused on the days.

So happy Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day!

I’m going to take the rest of today off.

Alan

A Junior College basketball coach took his car in for service.   He noticed a mechanic working under another car, his head on one side, his feet protruding out the other.

“Hmmm …” the coach mused.  “This guy is tall.  I need him as a center on my JC basketball team.”

After the mechanic had played center for two years on his basketball team, the JC coach called John Wooden, famed coach of the UCLA basketball dynasty.

“Hey, John, I’ve got a center for you.”

“A center?” Wooden replied.

“Heck, I don’t need a center. I have Bill Walton coming in as a freshman in the Fall.”

“So, I’ve heard,” said the JC coach. “And who is he going to practice against?”

There was a pause.

“Good thought. I’ll take a look at him.”

And so, Darrall Imhoff went from auto mechanic to gold medalist on an Olympic basketball team to NBA all-star, all thanks to the creative thinking of a junior college basketball coach.

Who you meet in life, and the path you follow, is largely random. More than sixty years ago I did something uncharacteristic. I signed up to judge the oratory finals at the California high school speech tournament. I also contacted the winner and sent him airfare so he could attend the National finals in Washington, DC.

Because I judged at that tournament I met Jim Williams, who remains to this day one of my best friends, and through Jim I met Daveen almost fifty years ago.

All I know for sure is that my life would be quite different if I had never judged that speech tournament and met Jim.

How about you?  I’m betting that many, if not most, of your long-term relationships were serendipitous, simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

It’s not so much what happens to you in life. It’s what you make of the opportunities life inevitably sends your way.

Good luck to all!!!

Alan

We are creatures of habit. Today I‘m celebrating the starving children in China – from eighty years ago.

Years ago, it wasn’t an uncommon practice for parents to insist that children eat everything on their plate. To leave food uneaten was wasteful. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid at dinner my parents further insisted that if I didn’t finish everything, the children of China would starve.

I never even thought to ask my parents how my unfinished dinner was going to be delivered to a child halfway around the world, I just dutifully did as I was told, and thereby formed an unhealthy habit.  That habit, which began in the early 1940’s has lasted for more than eighty years. All that time, I have faithfully finished every scrap on my plate, even when I was uncomfortably full. This year, I decided to form a different habit.

I’m delighted to report that throughout the past year, at every dinner, I have stopped eating NOT when I’ve finished everything on my plate, but when I no longer feel hungry. As you might expect, I’m eating less that way.  And have I lost weight?  You bet.  Almost ten pounds.

Certain habits should stay with us for a lifetime, like, “Look both ways before you cross the street.”  Other habits should be consigned to the dustbin of history, with a kick for good riddance.

Even though it’s not yet New Year’s Eve, I’m going to jump the gun and keep on discarding the old habits that don’t serve me and keep forming new habits that do.

It’s never too late to teach yourself NOT to finish your dinner.

Think about it.  Good habits are something new to chew on.

Alan