barrow-dot-me

Quite a few months ago, I started writing this post to honor my friend, Doug Pitters, who departed from this world far too soon. Unfortunately, I never got around to posting it. Well, today marks the one year anniversary of his death, so here it goes... In a previous post, I talked about the fact that each of us should cherish every day that we are alive and use it to its fullest. I am such a strong believer in this concept that I regularly toss it into conversation to remind both my audience and myself of its importance. On the morning of November 19, 2012, I was catching up with an old high school buddy via email. In the course of updating him on  what had been going on in my slice of the world,  I said: I had to face up to the fact that ... the next day (or even the remainder of the current day) is guaranteed to no one. When I typed those words, I never thought that just a few hours later that I would be reminded that they were not just a statement of opinion, but ...

One Saturday afternoon several years ago, I sat at the bar of The Library Ale House in Santa Monica, CA with a good friend of mine. We were sipping our pints and chatting about a whole range of topics. After a while, I started talking smack -- definitely par for the course for a couple of guys gathered at a pub. My friend listened to my babbling for some time and when I paused, he exclaimed, "Hey, look at those two old guys!" Before I'd even fully realized what he said, I turned to see what he was talking about. Surprisingly, I found myself looking into the mirror behind the bar at our reflections. Damn, who is that old guy? Before I had a kid, I never really thought too much about getting older. Other than the annual teasing from friends about being one step closer to the grave, time just trudged along. After the kid arrived, however, I felt that I could hardly stop thinking about my age and, more specifically, that I was quickly running out of time. The stress of ...