Pardon the Interruption...Once Again

So sorry for my silence, all
I have been up to my eyeballs planning this Tony Kornheiser golf outing that, along with 20 of my "Original Blog-Mates," I will be a part of this Monday August 1st in Reston, VA.

I hadn't intended for it to work out this way, yet I somehow became the point-person between our group, Tony's people, and the Sheraton Reston Hotel, who is sponsoring (and fully comping) this entire she-bang.

I've been working on it on nearly a daily basis for the past three weeks, so it has occupied whatever mental energy my work and family hasn't taken up during that time.

I'm also furiously trying to get ready for my trip to California, which comes just 10 days after that, so I've truly been swamped.

I will be writing A LOT about the Reston trip after the fact. It's unbelievable how well this thing has come together. You're gonna die when I give you all the details (my wife is dying right now because she can't come with me)! It promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and my buddies.

So please "Pardon the Interruption" (and a gold star to those of you who get that pun *LOL*), but I will get back to my current series after this week, and possibly sooner, (but don't hold your breath).

Talk to you soon...


AJ

Vivo en el Cinco de Julio

Happy 5th of Alive, folks.
For many years now, July the Fifth has been sort of a second Thanksgiving Day to me. No, we don’t grill turkey breasts or even bob for sweet potatoes out in the back yard. It’s a personal celebration, one that I’m not sure that I’ve ever really talked to anyone about before now.

With the possible exception of being a little hung-over, most people wouldn’t regard today as being much different than any other.

But it is for me.

Twenty-Nine years ago (omigawd you can’t believe how old that makes me feel) I was a few weeks shy of my 20th birthday. I was also president of the college-age class at my church. Like any other social group, we often planned activities around holidays when people would be off work or school. The Fourth of July fell on a Sunday that year, so the added bonus of that happenstance was that most everyone was off on Monday the 5th. So we thought it might be fun to plan a little outing on that day.

I dubbed it a “Cinco de Julio Celebration.”

We planned a day hike in the local SoCal mountains; just a half-day kind of thing. Pack a lunch, hike a little, take in the scenery, hang out and relax. And since it was principally my idea, I was also the one with whom the responsibility of delivering the devotional was charged (after all, this was a church group outing).

I don’t so much remember what it was I said, but I do recall a lot about the time I spent preparing for it. A good part of the previous day, I sat on the couch in my apartment with the TV on, watching as I wrote down notes to this short, fifteen-minute, (hopefully) inspirational talk I was about to give.

It was July 4, 1976, our nation’s Bicentennial, and the networks were awash in special programming about the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Every channel it seemed was broadcasting some kind of patriotic program. I remember tears welling up in my eyes as the pride swelled within my chest. I was so thankful to be an American.

I still am.

Every year since, Cinco de Julio has served as a reminder for me; as the first day after the fireworks have faded and the bands have fallen silent, that life continues, and the real celebration should begin. A celebration of freedom; a celebration of life as a blessed people.

Despite the debacles, both social and governmental, which have stained America in our lifetime, this is still a great nation. It’s not perfect, but then again neither are we. Neither am I.

What I am is blessed — no matter how you choose to interpret the word. That’s how I feel today.

Of all the metaphysical gin joints in the world that good fortune could have walked into, she chose to walk into mine. And as each year passes I find myself more and more amazed at my fate but less convinced that I had any real hand in making it so.

Regardless of your stance on things political and/or social in the world, I hope you celebrated our nation’s birth yesterday — I mean really celebrated it — in your mind and in your heart, not in just the outward trappings of food and fireworks. I know I did. And I realized once again just how good I indeed have it today — not ten or twenty years ago — but today. It doesn’t matter how much better I ever thought my life should have been. The fact is, it’s pretty damned good right now.

There is still a lot of work to be done to make this country what it could be, but I hope you’ll join me today in celebrating it for what it is; and for what we are: a truly blessed people.

Happy Cinco de Julio, my friends.

Happy 5th of Alive.


finis