Yep, another one – tomorrow. Of course, the alternative is much worse! And gosh, I’ve already gotten a ton of birthday wishes – how cool is that? But birthdays, to me, are kind of like New Year’s Eve: it’s a time for change, for renewal, for setting goals and getting my act together.

Change, of course, we’ve heard a lot about the last few months or so. Yawn. But you know, if everyone did a couple small things to change themselves, as individuals, the world would indeed be a much better place. And no, I can’t say what those things should or could be; it’s rather personal for everyone.

Renewal? To me that means a new start, all those things that I’ve been procrastinating over probably need to be taken care of. Oh, I’m sure I’d bore you with the details, but mundane things like taking the truck in for an oil change or stopping smoking. And, too, things like having a better attitude, even creating a “new me” – as in improving my outlook and making myself a priority.

Yeah, I can hear the laughter from dear old Mom already. Whatever. That’s another thing that I’m still sorting out – and I’m sure it won’t ever go away, but I’ve made a lot of progress. Just a few more details to think about and absorb and I’m feeling much, much stronger already.

My goals are and always have been pretty fluid. I don’t spend a lot of time regretting things that I’ve wanted to do or accomplish when it seems like they aren’t ever going to happen. I usually find a new goal, and work towards that.

I don’t think it’s flighty, I think it’s realistic. And besides, I could always rediscover my inspiration and drive, even if, at some point, I think things just won’t fall into place.

When I was a child, I wanted to be a writer. Now, while I haven’t yet been published on paper, I have made huge strides in online publishing. I enjoy it, I’m good at it, and it keeps me occupied. I even earn a little money doing it. The rest will fall into place, surely. Someday. I hope.

The point is that I haven’t been writing for the last 40 years, non-stop. I had the dream, I worked at it, and then I had children. Kids do sometimes put the best plans on hold – but that certainly doesn’t mean the dream is over. So I took a break. Oh, for like twenty years or so. No big deal.

As a teenager, I wanted to own a horse farm. Now this one IS a big deal, and requires quite a lot of capital, and I’ve pretty much resigned myself to it falling into the category of “not happening”. But it could. Someday. Maybe.

My next goal was wife and mother. Sheesh, be careful what you wish for! So the first marriage didn’t work out – it wasn’t the marriage I mourned, but the dream. The second one is nearly perfect – and by that I mean, naturally, that our marriage is very, very good. Sure, we have ups and downs. Not a problem. We get through it, and I don’t see that changing at all. It’s a process, not an end-product.

Yeah, we seem to have a lot of kids, his, mine, and ours. And our granddaughter. And some in-laws here and there. That’s okay, that’s cool – even thought the granddaughter makes me feel a lot older than I am! I can handle that too. One thing about reaching one’s, um, mid-forties, is that you can handle a whole lot more than you ever thought possible. Of course, some days that feels like a big fat lie….

Oh, and one more – a couple years ago I thought long and hard about law school. I was on track, on my way, just needed a few minor things to fall into place. Well, they didn’t. Life got in the way. Is that dream over? I don’t know. Maybe not. Probably not. I have a real go-with-the-flow attitude about that. And that’s okay too. Less stress, I’m sure.

Getting my act together.

That used to be huge for me, a real necessity. I always felt like I was floundering, and if just “this one thing” would happen, I could just take hold and get that act together.

Yeah, right.

And you know what? It doesn’t matter. MOST of the time, I do have it together. And when I don’t, I simply have to wait a bit and it comes back around. Hard to explain, maybe, but that’s the truth, the secret if you will:

Relax, wait, and look at the big picture. It all starts to make sense. Don’t let the little things trip you up, because they probably aren’t nearly as important as you think.

So, my words of wisdom for the day – ha! Go forth, and conquer!

A friend was recently stopped for jaywalking, an archaic-sounding “crime” if ever there was one. No, she wasn’t ticketed, but seriously, folks – is this really something for which the police need to be concerned?

Unfortunately, it may be, since apparently it’s the government’s job to keep us safe, even from ourselves. The quintessential definition of a nanny-state.

Remember when you were a child and your mother said, “Look both ways before you cross the street”? She didn’t have to add,” and make sure there are no cars coming so you don’t get hit” because, after all, we weren’t stupid.

Are people today so much dumber, so clueless, that they can’t cross a street safely? Apparently they are.

I remember when I went off to college, and the move at that time was to make the university campus a “pedestrian” campus. Silly, because there were a lot of cars around, it was a huge campus, and major roads criss-crossed through the campus itself.

I was astounded at the number of (usually) students who were considered smart enough to qualify for a college education, but couldn’t manage to check traffic before attempting to cross the street.

Common sense dictates that cars are much bigger and faster and heavier than a person, so one should very much wish to avoid a collision with said car. Or truck, or motorcycle, or semi. Any or all of the above. Of course, common sense appears, often, to be in short supply.

We have evolved from looking both ways to having marked pedestrian crosswalks; the next step was to enact penalties for not using those crosswalks. And finally, of course, there are the newer laws which state that pedestrians have the “right of way”. Taking this to a logical conclusion, traffic can become backed up or accidents caused simply by clueless individuals attempting to cross streets willy-nilly, at random.

Tell me, please, who is the one that loses this contest? The human being, hands-down, in any kind of encounter with a vehicle.

This can be compared to other nonsensical laws on the books, like helmet laws. Okay, the argument is that, regarding motorcycles, if one chooses not to wear a helmet, and has no health insurance (or sometimes even if he does) and is involved in an accident and incapacitated – society must pay for this choice by underwriting his healthcare. Maybe. Maybe not.

Legislators have decided, somewhere along the line, that people are too stupid to be safe from themselves. Have they not heard of “survival of the fittest”? Of course wearing a helmet on a motorcycle is safer than not – as is wearing a seatbelt in a car. If someone chooses not to, they pay the price, the price of stupidity.

When did we stop becoming a nation of choice, and start huddling under the government wing like a collective bunch of whining children?