I'm 50

Yesterday was my 50th birthday. I had a great day.

 While I spent the day kayaking across Round Lake and watching the sunset over little Traverse Bay, the rest of the world was either melting down or drowning. Las Vegas is too hot, New York's too wet, and Detroit is both hot and wet - which seems to leave Petoskey as the garden spot of the known universe.

 Leslie and Larry, with whom we're spending another delightful July 4th holiday week, are doing their best to subdue nature - as usual. Larry's self-appointed role is to tidy up after Ole Mother Nature and Leslie is killing every weed in her path. On Friday, Larry and I worked to get his brand new used boat into the water at Round Lake. Everything went according to plan and I have the photos to prove it. Yesterday, we took it easy with some shopping at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and a stroll to the beach at Petoskey State Park after dinner.

 But today, Leslie and Larry are back at their posts fighting against nature's relentless entropy And adding a little beauty to the world through their garden. I, on the other hand, am looking for a way to extend the condo association's free Internet service into their unit. It's a tough job - but somebody's got to do it. I've met with little success so far but happen to have a wireless range extender in my back pocket, so I may yet succeed.

 I'd like to say that I've formulated some special words of wisdom to share on my 50th birthday but I haven't. James Taylor wrote "the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time" - and I think that's true. Enjoying the passage of time is very easy in Petoskey this week. But anybody who's lived for 50 years knows that it's not always so easy.  Larry McMurtry wrote "it's a fine world though rich in hardships of times." I believe that too. Maintaining your equilibrium through the hardships is the key.

Paul (yeah, the one from the Bible) wrote: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Now THAT'S what I'm shooting for.

 Or as Elwood P. Dowd put it:
"I have a wonderful time wherever I am, whoever I'm with."
 That's how I roll.

 Take care.