We don't get to decide....

[Bounce]

My kids are grown. My wife and I have done our part. Right now, they are MOST concerned about themselves (rightfully so), and we get whatever is left over (not much, really). I'm told that they come back in time. We can wait patiently to see when that happens but in the meantime, we are content to watch them enjoy their life from the front row.

If you're lucky like us, somewhere around 25 to 30, they become your best friends and you hang out doing projects, go riding (my SiL and I), and babysit their kids when you can.

Our family project: https://www.fjr-tips.org/misc/pics/shop/shop.html

My daughter and SiL did the framing with me being the gopher and extra set of hands. I did electrical, etc (inside) and he did the roofing. The double entendres I started were rebuffed with their quick wits and a willingness to head down rabbit holes that had my ears burning. It was a hoot!

 

[Tyler]

Wheaton, That photo is around somewhere. Someone will be posting it up shortly. Wouldn't mind having it myself.

Here you go... :wub:

 

[Tyler]

But MIRACULOUSLY, the house was still standing and BION, the sun actually rose today - straight out of the east.

The same thing most likely will happen today... and tomorrow...

 

[majicmaker]

You're right, Tyler. But, I sure do miss him though.

 

[Tyler]

You're right, Tyler. But, I sure do miss him though.

You're not alone, my friend... that man was a living example of living life large... I think of him so often it's kind of like he's still around... kind of.

I uploaded all the photos that were collected for his celebration of life onto my Smugmug site. Here is the link if anyone wants to get a Beemerdons fix.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wheaton, That photo is around somewhere. Someone will be posting it up shortly. Wouldn't mind having it myself.

Here you go...

^^^^^

Like

Thanks Angel, and thanks for the link, too.

 

[Tyler]

Thanks Angel, and thanks for the link, too.

Anytime, Sunshine...

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I have been avoiding this thread because I do not want to get too emotional and embarrass myself. I am jumping in anyway.

Being a bit different is almost a membership requirement for this forum and I guess I meet that one in spades.

Unlike the kids you folks write about Pop and I were ALWAYS best friends. Always. Pop volunteered for the United States Marine Corps because he was drafted by the U.S. Army to go to Vietnam. In a cruel twist of fate, I was born while Dad was Over There. When he got home he was...different. He had decided that he was going to raise his own best friend. He did that.

I never stood in the driveway watching the boat leave while he went fishing with his friends. If he went, I went. He took me everywhere, we worked on everything together and we played with everything together.

His father passed away at 72. His father in law passed away at 72.

I have made sure I include him in my life and I made sure the woman I married understood this. She treats her father the same way and we are both happy with that.

Like my friend HotRodZilla, I have a responsibility to raise and care for my child. My son is 12 and he is on The List of The Most Important Things. I have a list and I stay with it.

I have to balance work/fun/marriage/fatherhood/parents/meanness and I am not always successful at this. I try.

hppants message that we Don't Get to Decide is a good one. What we do get to decide is How to Live Everyday.

I DECIDE who I am and how I want to live. I DECIDE if I am going to be missed when I am gone. I can control some of that. I may not be able to decide when I am leaving this world but I can damn well decide how I act up to that point.

Many of us look back at that pic of beemerdons and wish...

I have these pics framed on my wall and I don't have to wish:





I decided that I will never have to cry over what I wish I had done or the rides I wish we had taken. That is a decision I can control.

 

[dcarver]

Coworkers often ask why I ride almost every day to work.

"Isn't it not fun just to go to work"

"Doesn't it take more time than just hopping in the nice warm car?"

"Why be cold?"

"Why be hot?"

I simply ride while I can.

Life is short, health adequate to ride motobikes even shorter.

 

[Knifemaker]

I always told my kids when they were growing up that "You are in charge of your own destiny" ..... Meaning you can't blame anyone for where you end up in life but yourself. And for the most part this is true, your life IS what you make it. However....destiny can deal you a surprise at anytime ...

I remember reading about a local guy that got killed because an oncoming truck hit the guardrail on the highway and lost an entire wheel...it bounced over the guard rail and went through the poor souls windshield...killing him instantly before his car even lost control.

Had he been going a few mph faster (or slower), or left work two seconds later, he'd still be alive.

So destiny still can **** your over. Both my parents died in the same year (1996), oddly just two months apart. My mom from a staff infection she got at a long term hospital where she was being treated for severe ephizeema (sp)...my dad, a massive heart attack when he was home alone. He called 911...but he was gone by the time they got there.

I think about death now and then........ .....at 61 I do consider myself healthy...but it only takes one ******* driver to cross the double yellow, or that blood vessel to burst in my brain, and I'm gone.

So, perhaps I'm not living large...I don't ask for much really, got a good wife, no health issues, and although we aren't financially "well off" ... We got a nice house on a lake, a boat, cars that run....I still consider us lucky compared to many who have so much less.

My only hope is we both last for awhile longer to enjoy what meager things we have achieved and that destiny doesn't deal either one of us a bad surprise.

https://youtu.be/f_7prdLqWVA

 

[Moedad]

Gonna be 60 in a couple of months. This is a timely, wisdom-filled thread.

 

[Fred W]

Just recently, we've had two such demonstrations of the power of destiny, both involving trees falling on moving cars. In one case it was a local volunteer firefighter driving down a (numbered) rural state road when a tree blew down and landed on his truck. Then less than a week later (not during the same storm) a tree came down on a couple's car as they passed down the road and took them both out. In both cases, had they not been at that exact spot at that exact moment, had they been just seconds faster or slower, they would have missed their date with destiny.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Enjoy this life...it is fragile and short.

 

[HotRodZilla]

AJ,You keep yerself in good shape, 'kay?

We need you for NAFOs and campouts...for a LONG time. I'm useless organizing things.

Hey Wheatie, how many times are you gonna edit this post? Haha...I think I've seen 3 versions. That one is good!

Don't count on me organizing stuff. The credit for NAFO currently goes to Marty and Wayne. I sort of just consulted. I wonder if I can get paid for that kind of thing. You know, responsible for stuff, but don't really do anything. Haha...

This thread reminds me why I like so many of you guys and girls. As much as it doesn't seem like it sometimes, we are all fighting the same fight. I'll be impressed when someone actually wins!

 

[Tyler]

This thread reminds me why I like so many of you guys and girls. As much as it doesn't seem like it sometimes, we are all fighting the same fight. I'll be impressed when someone actually wins!

Every day above ground and breathing IS winning...

 

[LCB]

This thread reminds me why I like so many of you guys and girls. As much as it doesn't seem like it sometimes, we are all fighting the same fight. I'll be impressed when someone actually wins!

Every day above ground and breathing IS winning...

Damn straight sweetie!

This whole thread is dedicated to a bunch of WINNERS.

 

[NHredliner]

Reading this and seeing so much death and illness all the time makes me realize how short this life is and that we are all connected. It has been a great ride so far, I'll be 49 next month and hope to be able to retire in 10 yrs. But as much as I can, I try to live in the present as best I can. The longer I am here the more I realize how lucky I am to still be alive. As a younger man I lived a fatal lifestyle. Today a bit wiser, and certainly blessed, my lifestyle is very healthy. There are choices we can make that can bring better health and at least a chance for a future and some quality of life, the rest is not up to us. I chose to live in the mountains that I love and a healing profession. Due to my efforts with my current employer I have 4 weeks vacation and 2 of these are spent with my parents and some of the family that are able to get together with always busy lives. The remaining days I use for long weekends and I love to ride, ski and spend time in the nature.

I think of how I want to spend "retirement" assuming that I make it, and it is pretty much how I live today. The only difference will be being able to chose when I do the things I like and having more time to do it. Due to poor choices in the past I am playing catch up and know I won't have much money. But As long as my health is good enough to ride and walk and I can afford a bike...

As someone else said "none of us gets out alive".

Enjoy the moment and be good to one another. Hope to meet some of you on the road or beyond!

 

[dcarver]

This thread reminds me why I like so many of you guys and girls. As much as it doesn't seem like it sometimes, we are all fighting the same fight. I'll be impressed when someone actually wins!

Every day above ground and breathing (and not in MASSIVE pain) IS winning...

Slight editorial..

 

[FJReady]

This is a great thread. Its been making me spend more time considering how I'm going to spend the time I have left and what the really important things are in my life. Thanks to all for your wisdom, insights and experiences. I know it's hard to put words to them sometimes.

 

[Tyler]