I hope all of you had a wonderful summer! I did... there were ups and downs and backwards and sideways turns but taking the time off was well worth it for me...
I just want to start off by saying Thank You... Thank You... It's been two years since I started this journey of writing and as I've said before and I'll say it again... It takes two; me to come up with an idea and write it all down and you to take the time to read it.
I was able to take some much needed time to myself but also had time to jot a few ideas down about where and what I would discuss here in the coming year; and while we will likely go down many and varied roads; the common thread will still be having a life that is beautifully lived... and... ko ka' I'ini--- desires fulfilled. By both I mean that we each need to find our own destiny and not sit around waiting for it to find us... and try to make each bite we take out of life as delicious as possible. I'll also be talking a little about clothing and fashion but frankly the best advice I can possibly give you is... most designers and fashions magazines don't know the difference between shit and shinola so...
... on second thought maybe I'll throw in some other practical advice but it's all going to boil down to one simple thing... it's not about the clothes it's about what's underneath that's important and life you are living in them... and I'll also be taking us on a few more round the world adventures and some of the life lessons I've learned from my own experiences--- maybe one of the most important things I've learned in my travels is knowing where you want to go and what you want to discover from the journey and perhaps knowing what to bring home with you and what you can (or should) leave behind to help contribute to others discoveries... You have to start by knowing you are not going to find a great heirloom tomato at Bergdorf-Goodman... it's better to start the search at the Farmers Market... so with that I will definitely be writing about food and share some favorite recipes from my kitchen and life.
But back to summer... it's been... well ...
Everything is not as I imagined it would be... but such is life... I did not get to the beach nearly as often as I would have hoped for... however I spent seven un-funfilled hours in an emergency room after getting sideswiped by life (and a school bus) (Luckily I'm fine but still a little sore and bent out of shape mentally and physically) I don't know if my tennis or golf game is ever going to be the same but we'll cross that bridge later; I'm just glad I'm here to write about it... I also did something I have not done for nearly 40 years--- I sang Schubert's "Ave Maria" for a wedding mass... I will never, ever diss anyone who wants Williams & Streisand's "Evergreen" for their nuptials (which is by coincidence the last thing I sang at a wedding). After all these years I found that singing at a wedding is like riding a bike (except the bicycle is on fire and so is the road you are riding on... because you are in hell)... not really but there is something to be said for practice, practice, practice and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
With this mad whirl of a summer I got to see my life and where I'm going from a new perspective, and understand a few of the memories and dreams formed from long ago midnights and why some of them unravelled at dawn... This year I will be exploring some more of my memories... but just understand that the yesterdays were not better than today but what brought us to who we have become and where we are now... and for me... along the way from where I started; love has been good to me and helped me find my way to today and to chart the course toward tomorrow... probably the most important lesson I learned this summer is that that our happiness in life is linked directly to the quality of our thoughts and actions... and learning to navigate gracefully around those who are at odds with our high standards, sensibilities and better judgement is an on going education of practical application.
So I hope you will join me for another year and a new journey full of mysteries, twists and turns and probably some surprises... See you next week.
PS... Tour d'Argent c'est magnifique!
