As Hunter S. Thompson used to sway “buy the ticket, take the ride.”
Thoughts on Getting Me Back:
Looking back: It is like sitting in the third row seat of an old station wagon, staring ahead at the road behind you...
It is not enough to sit in the front seat and see where you were going -- you didn't know anyway.
To understand how you got here you have to look at where you have been. In that third row seat facing backwards you might be tempted to stare at the floorboard or the marks on your shoes or the stripes on the asphalt that never seem to end, but don't.
To understand you must look up, look back and accept the scenery for what it was.
When the pain and fury and fear rise up --remember it is only a hill in the distance, you have already passed over. That queasy feeling in your stomach is no more than a sour memory. ...
Excerpt
Thoughts on Writing
(The Requirements of an Author)
Desire: A congenital need to tell the story.
Determination: It is not enough to walk a couple of blocks or run five miles on a treadmill, come prepared to hike the Himalayas and explore the abyss.
An exoskeleton: A thick skin will not suffice -- no indeed. Colleagues and critics are apt in the sadistic art of shaving and burning the thickest of flesh; their tireless wheel of pumice leaving the toughest callouses raw and bleeding. They will thin your skin; get beneath it and prove your vulnerabilities. Like a flesh eating bacteria they will consume you -- kill you if you let them.
A poker face: Never let them see you sweat.
Gratitude: Because no one owes you anything!
Grace: For the rise and the inevitable fall.
Pills and booze and smoke: Because it is a hard and hateful world and you are not a god-damned ant.
This is not a drill. The attack on Pearl. They were the ghost planes of the night, deadly, illusive, sharp-clawed Black Cats. The Memoirs of ARM H.P. Lawrence, a Pearl Harbor survivor, Black Cat, and decorated war veteran.
Join me as we travel together on the road called "Aging." I will be sharing my personal experiences with you and offer ideas on how we can better navigate the complex byways of our older years. Grief, healing, generations, ancestors, and more.
