The problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life.
I come from a family of disciplinarians where you better follow the rules, until you’re man enough to break em.
So, here I am, fifty years in, looking back to look forward.
God, when I cross the truth, give me the awareness to receive it the consciousness to recognize it the presence to personalize it the patience to preserve it and the courage to live it.
If you are there, God,” I prayed, “I hope you appreciate a man who won’t retreat from the sweat it takes to gain self-determination. I hope you will reward a man who has decided to quit hiding behind the fatal blind belief that it’s all in your hands.
God’s lucky. The Goddess of luck is fortune, fortune is the Sister of fate, fate is the Divine Order, and the Divine Order is God. So, as far as I can tell, if you believe in luck, you believe in God.
If the door’s shut, don’t come knockin,” is one of the first rules of trailer park livin. Sure, I heard “Matthew McConaughey’s staying in the park” many times, but after a few waves and head-high howdys, everyone always respected my privacy, because for the most part everyone honored trailer park rules.
No matter who is in our bed each night we sleep with ourselves.
I’d rather lose money havin fun than make money being bored,” he’d say.
My first twenty years were where I learned the value of values. Through discipline and deep affection, I learned respect, accountability, creativity, courage, perseverance, fairness, service, good humor, and a spirit of adventure in ways that some people might consider abusive, but I remember as tough love, and I wouldn’t give back one ass whupping I ever got for the value of the values my parents impressed upon me. I thank them for that.
It was time to trade in any red sport cars I sill had.
I didn’t want to miss my twenties preparing for the rest of my life.
Nothing will bring you back down to earth like spitting a loogie in your own face.
She’s a woman that says “I’m gonna” before she can, “I would” before she could, and “I’ll be there” before she’s invited.
They what, Matthew?! Broke into your house!? Those son of a bitches, you keep your head up,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with smokin a little fun stuff and playing your drums naked at night in your own home; who do they think they are comin in your house like that?!
The problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. In time, yesterday’s red light leads us to a greenlight.
Sometimes we don’t need advice. Sometimes we just need to hear we’re not the only one.
I’ve done peyote in Real de Catorce, Mexico, in a cage with a mountain lion. I’ve had seventy-eight stitches sewn into my forehead, by a veterinarian. I’ve had four concussions from falling out of four trees, three of them on a full moon. I’ve bongoed naked until the cops arrested me.
More than enough room to have some dogs, raise a family, and bang on my congas in my birthday suit without disturbing a neighbor.
Then we return to civilization, able to better tend to our tendencies. Why? Because we took a walkabout.