Diamond Mike Watson's Blog, page 18

Real Time

 

I am driving 48mph. It is 8.4 miles to my next exit. I check my wrist. My heart is beating 82 beats per minute. It is 73° outside my car. There is an accident 2.1 miles ahead. A five-minute delay will prolong my arrival until 9:23am. I am burning 1 calorie per minute. I ignore the alert from my wife. I lick my lips and mutter the word coffee. I am notified a breakfast stop is 600 feet ahead. Daughter’s beep pings through the speakers. Heart pounds, did she earn an A or have a fender bender? My medical app warns my heart is beating faster.

The GPS informs me I missed the breakfast stop.

Filed under: Life Adventures

Things We Cannot Change

We can create our world with our thoughts and attitude. There are, however, a few things we cannot control.

When I opened Gallery of Diamonds Jewelers in 1991 gold was $300 per ounce. I purchased a home. I continued adding to my mutual funds.

Beyond my control, gold is worth four times more today.

Beyond my control, I can sell my home for much more than I paid for it.

Beyond my control, the mutual funds I had so shrewdly saved dwindled to almost half its value.

Although the balance of the mutual funds was simply a number, it was a real number. Even though I would have been penalized for an early withdrawal, I still would have been much richer if I simply demanded the money before relentless fall of the market. It was a painful lesson in relying on things beyond my control.

Therefore, I no longer invest money, time or thought into things I cannot harness. I do not slip quarters into slot machines in Vegas. I do not purchase lottery tickets.

So, other than trying to determine the value of stocks and bonds and the price of eggs in Oklahoma, it is more enjoyable to live in the realm of one’s talents and the things one loves and understands.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

The Serenity Prayer American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971).

Filed under: Life Adventures, Philosophy

Amazing

Life is amazing, so be amazed. Instead of acting like you’ve seen it all before, live as though you’re seeing it all for the first time.

You are in fact experiencing this bright new moment for the very first time.  So look carefully, lovingly, and with the highest expectations.

Take an interest in what you’re doing, in where you are, and in every part of life you touch. There is new treasure to be discovered everywhere, so find as much as you can.

Let yourself be curious about whatever crosses your path. Let yourself be fascinated by what you see and what you learn.

There is never any reason to be bored. Embrace a vision of life that is endlessly fascinating and truly amazing.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, be amazed. And your life, along with your whole world, will indeed be amazing.

— Ralph Marston

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy, Poetry

Belching at Grace Lutheran

I accidentally projected a tremendous belch at the lunch table at Grace Lutheran Elementary in New Albany. Mrs. Moore demanded to know from where the origin of the discharge came. “Who burped!” she growled. The kids at the table became silent and stared at me. Determined to find the source of the unwelcome noise, she turned to me intently, “Michael, did you belch?” I knew I didn’t commit a crime, but I did know if I admitted to the offense Mrs. Moore was rumored to send kids to the principal’s office to be tortured.

No, it wasn’t me.” I whimpered.

“Then who did?” she asked again, looking across the table at Pam Brooks.

“It sounded like it came from over there,” Pam said, pointing her fat finger at me.

“Michael, did you belch?” she interrogated the third time.

“Yes, I did.” I admitted defeated, and put my head down.

“After lunch everyone can go out and play…except you, Michael, because you lied to me,” she said.

So there I stayed in the classroom with the fluorescent lights turned off, while hearing the cheerful noises of my friends playing square ball outside. And then I wondered why she didn’t punish Mildred Jarvis instead of me. After all, my burp wasn’t nearly as disgusting as her squirting ketchup all over her green beans.

I knew I lied. And I also learned the unpleasant result of lying. And although I despised my teacher from not allowing me to enjoy that thirty-minute recess, it wasn’t until I typed these words that I realized it was a good lesson in life that I learned, and sadly, one of the few things I remember about Grace Lutheran.

Filed under: Childhood Memories, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Santa is Not Real!

During the Christmas season mom hung three stockings from the archway that led to the kitchen, representing my nuclear family of mom, dad, and me. Reindeer flew across the living room mirror in the form of soapy dabbed stencils that mom crafted every year. The silver-foiled Christmas tree slowly transformed from red, blue, orange and green from the glaring beam of psychedelic rotating light. There was plastic holly, mistletoe, and as many as seventy holiday cards that were taped along the stairwell.

After searching relentlessly for Santa Claus’s flying sled from my window one Christmas Eve, I returned to the living room only to find mom neatly placing presents under the tree. Seeing my astonishment, she said Santa had just dropped the presents down through the chimney.

But we didn’t have a chimney. We had a gas furnace. That story was impossible.

Filed under: Life Adventures

Santa is Not Real

At Christmastime mom hung three stockings from the stairs, representing my nuclear family of mom, dad, and me. Reindeer flew across the living room mirror in the form of soapy dabbed stencils that mom crafted every year. The aluminum tree would change from red, blue and back to yellow from the noisy psychedelic rotating light. There was plastic holly, mistletoe, and as many as seventy holiday cards that draped from the stairwell. After searching relentlessly for Santa Claus from my window one Christmas Eve, I returned to the living room only to find mom neatly placing presents under the tree. Seeing my astonishment, she said he had just dropped them off through the chimney. Since we had a gas furnace I knew that was impossible.

Filed under: Life Adventures

Things My Mom Taught Me

1. Things always get worse before they get better.

2. It always takes more time getting there than coming back home.

3. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

4. The idea of Christmas should not be, ‘I give you- you give me.’

5. It is far better to give than receive – Jesus.

6. Two wrongs do not make a right.

7. Never make fun of anyone because one never knows how you will end up.

8. Always love, never hate.

9. Food always taste better away from home.

10. Isn’t it wiser to believe in God if He does not exist, than not to believe in Him if He does?

11. If anyone questions my adoption, say, “at least I was picked out specially and your mom had to take what she could get.”

12. There are always two sides to every story.

13. Never put off things for tomorrow that can be done today.

14. You can never have too many friends.

15. Do not sing at the table.

16. Do not make a mountain out of a mole hill.

17. Never start a fight. However, if anyone ever hits you first it is okay to knock the shit out of them.

Filed under: Childhood Memories, Life Adventures

Shelly Perkins

At times I believed I was the only boy who lived on Grantline Road, for my neighborhood roamed with females. Older girls with larger physiques eventually subdued me during any test of muscular strength. Every week I faithfully claimed a different girlfriend, in which my love was steadfast until it was time to chose another.

Except Shelly Perkins.

I remember how my heart throbbed and my stomach tingled when I saw her from my window. Her blond hair seemed to burn in the sunlight and her little legs were wonderfully tanned. Her blue eyes sparkled like Fourth of July fireworks.

We sprinted bare footed in the grass and it tickled our feet. We ran across the freshly hoed garden beds and the cool crumbled soil would lodge between our toes. After endless hours of chasing and catching, we would flop into the shade of a mulberry tree where we would devour every purple fruit within reach.

One time when we were full and there was nothing left to do, I remember leaning close and peering down her yellow tank top. The small pink circles on her front were really not much different than my own. We didn’t know what sex was all about, and other than that encounter, we had more fun holding our breaths and kissing underwater in the child’s pool and playing with our dolls.

That summer Shelly moved. I missed her and thought about her many weeks afterwards. I do not know what happened to her, but that innocent epoch of my childhood was forever stamped into my brain.

Wherever you are, Shelly, I hope you are doing okay.

Filed under: Childhood Memories, Life Adventures, Tales of Imagination

You are the Master of Reality

We can create our world. We can steer our paths, choose our destinies, and control our outcomes.

How do we do this? With our thoughts and attitude.

I remember when I was convinced I would flunk a test, a friend would not laugh at my joke, a girl would refuse my offer to dance, or a client would reject my sales offering. Each prediction came true. Now things happen differently.

You can be the Commander of your Life. If you want peace, you must be the peace. If you want love, you must be the love. What happens when you smile sincerely at a stranger? Doesn’t the stranger smile back? What happens when you extend a hand of gratitude? Isn’t it almost reflexive for the stranger to extend her hand also?

Opportunities spring from everywhere when one radiates happiness. You can slip into the middle of a long waiting line, you are given free samples at the delicatessen, you are offered a higher paying position.

If you want to live in a universe of understanding, serenity, and prosperity, you must have eyes that look for understanding, serenity and prosperity.

The universe is a mirror. It is a reflection of yourself. You see what you want to see.

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy

Master of Reality

To a great extent, I believe humans have the ability to create their realities. We can steer our paths, chose our destinies, predict our future, and control our outcomes.

In layman terms, we can make things happen.

How do we do this? With our thoughts and attitude.

As I write this, I remember the times I was convinced I would flunk a test, or a friend would not laugh at my joke, or a girl would refuse my offer to dance, or a client would reject my sales offering. In each case my prediction came true. I am still the same person, but now things happen quite differently in my life.

Remember I said, “to a great extent.” There are a few things I cannot control. When I opened my jewelry store gold was $300 per ounce. The immediate success of the store allowed me to purchase a home. I continued adding to my mutual funds which grew to a surprisingly high value.

Today gold is worth four times more. I could also sell my home for four times more than I paid. However, the mutual funds I had so shrewdly saved dwindled to almost half its value. I learned that, for better or worse, we cannot control things beyond our control. This includes commodities, governments or the world economy. I no longer invest money or time in things that I cannot control.

I do, however, have control of my surroundings. If you would like peace in your life, you must be the peace. If you want love, you must be the love. This phenomenon can be easily illustrated. What happens when you smile with sincere happiness at a stranger? Does the stranger smile back? What happens when you extend a hand of gratitude? Isn’t it almost reflexive for the stranger to extend her hand also? Now try to discover why a person sneered at your reply, rejected your product, or misunderstood your comment.

If you want to live in a universe of understanding, serenity, and prosperity, you must have eyes that look for understanding, serenity and prosperity. So, other than trying to determine stocks and bonds and the price of eggs in Wyoming, simply be the Master of your Reality.

So the universe is really a mirror. It is simply a reflection of yourself. You see what you want to see.

Look into your mirror. Who do you see? Who do you want to see?

Filed under: Amazing Today, Life Adventures, Philosophy