Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on May 21, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with one comment

No regrets

 

“I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in my life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the things I didn’t do, the choices I didn’t make, the things I didn’t say. We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to. “What if…” “I wonder what would have…”You will never, never know, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.”

Born a Crime – Trevor Noah

None of us wants to limp to the finish line.

Life is one long, difficult race. There are peaks and valleys, and mercifully flat plains where the going is relatively easy. We’ve won a few and lost some. We’ve had incredible highs and endured the depths of despair. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried and times when we’ve just had to gut it out. It’s a marathon but finishing strong is our ardent desire.

I have experienced all of these emotions running marathons. They certainly rate as one of the most physically and mentally grueling things I’ve ever done. Walking the Camino twice is right up there. I know all too well what it feels like to limp to the finish line. It’s not a great feeling.

“Regrets I’ve had a few,

But then again, too few to mention.”

My Way – Frank Sinatra

I just finished reading Trevor Noah’s excellent book “Born a Crime” about his life growing up in South Africa around the time of apartheid. It was a very difficult childhood. His quote about regrets leapt off the page.

Loyal readers have heard me go on about this topic and time again, but I feel it bears repeating.

What if?

We all have regrets, but the trick is to minimize them. Many of you have retired and are enjoying the fruits of your labours. You’re travelling, playing pickle ball or making quilts. You have the time, the resources and the good health to be “living the dream”. Many are not so fortunate and struggle with retirement, finding the time long and loneliness your only companion.

The hourglass is not working in our favour.

I spoke with a friend recently. Like so many women, she dedicated her life to her family and her career and had very little “me time”. She’s thinking about doing a solo trip where she can go somewhere “far from the madding crowd”, where she can enjoy peace, quiet and seclusion. I urged her to do just that. If not now, when?

The last thing any of us want is to arrive at the finish line with a litany of regrets.

It doesn’t mean that you have to do something grand or dramatic, or something that requires a big outlay of time and money. It could be as simple as an apology to someone you’ve wronged. That doesn’t take money. It takes courage.

As the sand seeps to the bottom of that hourglass, it might be time to take action.

Please don’t limp to the finish line. Run to the finish line, or jog, or walk. Or wheelchair. Or skateboard or cycle. Or crawl, if necessary.  Go screaming, chanting, singing, praying.

Don’t be the one who says, “I wish I had…”

There’s still time.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. It’s hard to imagine that a proximal humerus fracture could ever be considered a good thing but this unfortunate accident provided me the time to work on a project long in the works – my autobiography. Breaking my arm was a mixed blessing. Last week, I was able to finish the first draft. Those of you of a certain age (!) will be able to relate to many of the stories, growing up in this part of the world as part of a large family. My plan is to publish in the Fall.

 

 

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Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on May 14, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

Don’t stop the presses

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”

This catch phrase was commonly shouted by newsboys in the United States, particularly in the mid-19th century, to sell special editions or extras of newspapers.

Do local, small-town papers still matter?

You betcha.

I have had a love affair with the printed word, especially newspapers, since delivering the Chronicle-Herald as a young boy. When I first started reading newspapers, I was attracted most to the sports pages which could run anywhere from 4-6 pages back in the good old days. This section would be loaded with stories of sporting events but what I liked most was the statistics. Like most sport nerds, I wanted to know how many home runs and RBI’s Mickey Mantle had so far in the season or who was leading the scoring race in the NHL.

These days, I’m more likely to be checking out the obituaries!

For decades, if not centuries, local weeklies have been the heartbeat of small town Canada. Long before the advent of the internet, this was the most important source for local news. These papers had everything from local politics, news, sports and features, and if you lived in “The Little Vatican” (Antigonish), there was even a full religious section. And yes, the ever-important obituaries where we learned more about our neighbors’ lives than we could have possibly imagined.

Like so many of my generation, we made scrapbooks, often filled with newspaper clippings. I have a drawer full of these clippings.

Slowly, and insidiously, local weeklies started a downward spiral, first through the takeover by conglomerates, and then the arrival of social media news and entertainment platforms and 24-hour cable television.

Our local gem, The Casket, fell victim to these pressures and today is a sad shadow of what it was once upon a time.

However, there are always survivors amongst the worst shipwrecks. The Guysborough Journal is one of them. They have been churning out local news for well over two decades. They have a loyal following and have managed to buck the trends against huge odds.

In a world that seems more connected and disconnected than ever, The Guysborough Journal still stands tall. Yes. We are connected more than we want or need to be but, sadly, we’re more disconnected than ever. Just go to a restaurant or a sporting event and witness 90% of the people with their attention fixed on a screen. Smart, and stupid. Two things can be right at the same time.

The Journal still speaks to its constituents, ordinary folks like you and me. We have a nascent curiosity. We want to know what’s going on in our own backyards.

The Guysborough Journal is not only alive and well, but it is actually planning to expand its coverage. Today, they will be launching a new section of the paper called “Antigonish This Week”, a “paper within a paper”.

I know that many of my loyal readers are excellent writers and story tellers. Maybe you would like to be a contributor to the paper?

If you are not already a subscriber to the Journal, here’s your chance to climb on board.

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it”!

Before I leave you, a quick medical update. I broke my humerus bone 6 weeks ago. No laughing matter! One never knows what they’re missing until it’s gone. I was absolutely thrilled a few weeks back when I was finally able to dress myself from head to toe. Small victories.

We shouldn’t take anything for granted.

Have a great weekend.

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Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on April 30, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

Peeling back the layers of my life

 

“Are you reelin’ in the years?

Stowin’ away the time.”

Reelin’ in the Years – Steely Dan

At the ripe old age of 73, my mind is not as sharp as it once was. I’m starting to forget names far too frequently. Sometimes I find it hard to recreate events of the previous week and worst of all, going into a room in my apartment and forgetting what I was going there for. The only thing that keeps me from being unduly alarmed is that most of my friends are experiencing many of the same things. No matter what tactics we employ, like doing crosswords or playing chess, it is inevitable that Father Time is catching up with us.

With this backdrop, why would anyone in their right mind choose to write their memoirs? Who said that I was in my right mind?!

I have been pondering writing my autobiography for a long time. Having written seven books, one of my goals was to pen 10 books by the time I turned 80. I reckoned that writing my memoirs would be an easy one – a “layup” in basketball jargon.

Stop the presses.

I didn’t play organized basketball but when I did, I missed plenty of layups. I can’t think of many pursuits that don’t require effort and diligence.

If I couldn’t remember the name of a high school classmate or what I had for supper last night, how in the hell was I going to capture memories over a lifetime? Like they say, if you’re going to eat an elephant, you’re going to have to take it small bites at a time.

As one might expect, I decided to do this book in chronological order. “Start at the beginning” is a good mantra for a project such as this.

Luckily, I had a lot of memorabilia to draw from including journals, old newspaper clippings, and a large collection of photo albums, to jog my memory. We’re all different and unique. Some people remember periods of their life with absolute clarity while other periods draw a blank. I had vague memories of my early childhood but once I reached the age of 10, I was firing on all cylinders.

One of the many luxuries of growing up in a big family is that I have siblings who are older, who remember things from when I was very young. I tapped into their storytelling prowess and picked up many nuggets that will appear in the book. Who can forget the “sick room” where Friars Balsam cooked on a hot plate bringing comfort to an ailing child?

Progressing through the years, I was able to reach out to schoolmates and university friends to backfill some of my stories and now that my narrative is taking place in the early 2000’s, I have my own children to tell their stories and fill in the blanks.

So far, this has been a fascinating and rewarding experience. While these are technically my stories, many of them are your stories, as many of my readers grew up in the same era.

I was chugging along nicely until I had my unfortunate accident of April 5th, breaking my right arm, my dominant arm. Dealing with the pain has been one thing but living a left-handed existence has been challenging to say the least. But when these challenges arise, we adapt because we must. Under no circumstances could I contemplate writing on my laptop for the first 10 days of my confinement, but now that I’m progressing and have made adaptations, I’m back at it, full steam ahead.

Not everybody is a writer, but everyone has a story to tell. I think everyone should write their memoirs in one fashion or another. It doesn’t have to be a book. Even jogging down random memories in a scribbler would suffice.

I’m hoping that writing will keep my brain sharp for years to come.

Now , if I could only remember why I made a trip to my bedroom a few minutes ago!

“Memories

Light the corners of my mind,

Misty water- colored memories,

Of the way we were.”

The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand

Have a great weekend.

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