fiddy

on the eve of the half-century mark, last big entry. "Defining moments."

1)Father's death: nothing like losing your father @ age 5 to make you grow up in a hurry.

2)NY World's Fair: the sixties were an amazing time to grow up. This event pointed toward the future. We went nearly every weekend.

3)St.Gabriel's School: growing, meeting friends, learning the dif between asshole/classclown/leader. Fights, laughs, sex, Brother James. Being an Altar boy. wow.

4)Bellefontaine: earning my wings in prep/boarding school. First independence, first beer, first drugs. First experience getting kicked out. Magic times. The beer in the creek, hockey, friends from all over the country.

5)Cathedral Prep: where I ended up after getting kicked outta prep school. New thug on the block. When they learned why I transferred, I got immediate bad boy street cred. Not always such a good thing.

6)Cathedral College: whatthefuck made me think this whole Priest thing'd work out????? Looked GREAT in clerical garb, esp meeting girls for dates in the parking lot. Real babe magnet. No joke, they loved it. AND, remember, @ this time I'd reached my mgw-maximum gross weight.

7)Grad school: When it all hit the fan. Got kicked out, sent to rehab, my real life began.

8)Teaching: my first post rehab career-not job. REALLY made me part of the world again. Now, you gotta remember, this was the late 80's, when chain smoking and shades didn't get you kicked out of your position. The Keith Richards of the profession. STILL made it into Who's Who In American Education. hee hee.

9)Counseling: started on a path that led me to here. Met some amazing people-and amazing assholes-thanks for firing me Nassau county, best thing that EVER happened to me! Where I met the person who was to bear my son.

10)Running: where my third life began and currently resides. Enabled me to reach spiritual heights I'd sought in the Seminary. Enabled me to meet amazing REAL people.

11)The NY Marathon: My first, my best. The Alley Pond Striders got me in, they own my (running shoe) sole. Bless them. Picked me up and gave me props. The kid from Queens runs the city, therefore, OWNS the city, MY city, MY NY. Did a shitload of other marathons, none compares.

12)Stoney's birth: for anyone who doesn't have a child, you don't know. For those that do, ain't it sumtin'?

13)Cancer: Shebitch lost It's mind, I lost everyone I knew-those I didn't lose believe I'm Satan. Again, see #10 and 11, they saved my ass.

14)The next century: spent 50 years getting this way, let's ride the wave.

***You'll notice other than my Father's death, not too much written about this. Not very defining moments. Death sucks, it hurts, but after losing your male role model so young, nothing comes close to that.

*****We have a speaker come in to do a group 3x weekly. His program is called "Happier Horizons," really good stuff, i.e. there's no such thing as stress, don't be a sucker etc.....the ONE thing I disagree with: why do we in this country have an odd sense of entitlement? Only in the US do we feel a God given expectation to be happy????? Happy is OUR job, God gives us life, the rest is up to us. Another thing I learned in 50 years!!!