The Bridge Keeper

True story - years ago, I figured out the meaning of life.  Not making that up, but I will provide a clue at the end of the post.  (Disclaimer - it's not a great clue, but it will make you think).  The purpose of life, to myself and I think Mojo, too, is the much bigger challenge.  Decisions as big as your impact on the community and the world down to where to go to dinner can cause people stress.  What questions are we supposed to answer?  Some are tougher than others.  The Bridge Keeper can help some of us know what to ask on our quest for the Grail, but for some, it doesn't always work out.

Simple example - my two favorite brewers, Bells and Conshohocken, both started distributing to NJ in the last 3 months.  In addition, I was recently able to order the NES classic from Amazon.uk when it was on presale, which arrived while we were on vacation in the D.  Coupled with my successful search for the SNES Classic and an old version of Rampage, I now have my two favorite beers and all the old school video games I've sought for the last however many years, in the house.  I joked with some friends, so now what?

Pondering...

I know Mojo doesn't love the word "content" because it implies not continuing to grow and improve on oneself, but I use it here to describe a subtle happiness or satisfaction.  Like when you are enjoying a coffee on a perfect summer morning on a lake in Michigan or poolside here in Jersey.  So what do you do when you're not sure what to do?

Back when I was doing more office work, I saw an influx of young adults, 20-28 range, who were all experiencing this almost early-life crisis.  Most had finished or were about to finish college, had nice jobs, good social lives, and a whole lot of time on their hands.  And all of them came in saying some version of, "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, and it's causing me a lot of anxiety."  This was especially true for the women, many of whose mothers didn't have the opportunities and/or family acceptance of going to college and having a career, i.e., their grandmothers wanted to know why they weren't married at age 22 and cranking out babies.  It was almost like they needed permission to enjoy their youth, work on their careers, take guitar lessons, or do whatever it was that made them happy.

Always my first option

The world is so accessible anymore.  People can travel anywhere.  College degrees are so specific it's almost like someone made them up.  (To my boys in the D - check #7 on that list... good thing we didn't know about that one).  There are so many shows and movies on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc., that you could never in a lifetime watch all of them.  So what do you choose?

One final example... I had a tradition of bringing back as much Michigan beer home from our summer trip.  The record was 98.  About a month before we left, I ran into the store to get wine as gifts for some people.  I noticed Sierra Nevada, possibly the best brewer around, had done a one-off IPA designed for summer.  I didn't get it because I already had enough in the house.  It occurred to me then it wasn't worth bringing back so much beer because I could never get to all of the ones here.  There are literally 5 breweries within 10 minutes of my house.  This year, I brought back about 30 beers.  I packed my golf clubs instead.

My friends and I have recently likened the choices in craft beer to the choices in television and movie.  Between Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and whatnot, you can never get to it all.  The same goes for life.  I have a list of probably 20-30 places I want to visit worldwide before I die, and unless we hit the lottery, I'm not going to get to them all.  And that's the thing with life at this point, too.  We are at a point where we sort of could a hell of a lot of things.  There's almost too many too choose.  It's a nice problem to have, let me say, but as life goes on, I think we have to be choosier in our choosing.

We now interrupt this post for the following exchange that took place 5 seconds ago.  Scene - LB, Jr. and I watching the Loud House episode, Tricked, our personal favorite:

That's my kid

LB, Jr. - Daddy, what are you doing?
Me - Writing a blog
LB, Jr. - I want to look up animals eating things (LB Note - this is his favorite part of the interwebs).  Look up a zebra eating ice cream.
Me - Done
LB, Jr. - I like that one the best.  Hey, put that in your blog, Daddy!
Me - Done


This blog is starting to get a little disjointed.  Probably appropriate since I'm still trying to wrap my head around this concept.  Maybe this will do it for me, and anyone else who has had similar thoughts... back in August, after the Charlottesville, VA white supremacist rallies and murders, I put myself on a 2 week Facebook blackout, with exceptions for pics of Mojo and family and anything related to Team RWB.  Without going into detail, let's just say I was less than impressed with some people's reactions to this incident.  Nearly a year later, I'm still on it.  I found I focused more on myself, my interests, my own personal growth and goals.

"Sloth eating pizza" - he's still helping

I'm not about to go on some social media rant because I have nothing against it and know that I'm the exception here.  But I think it goes to a bigger point... we need to focus on the people and things that make us happy and support our growth and goals and minimize the things that move us in the wrong direction.  Maybe even cut people and activities out of our life, if needed (Mojo, your move on that conversation...).


For me, too much Facebook is bad.  Instagram and Twitter, good.  That was my choice.  Nowadays, we are going to be bombarded with choices, or should I say, opportunities.  Our kids will likely have even more.  No matter what it is - college degrees, beers, travel options, career options - we can't live long enough to do it all.  We can only make the best choice, in that moment, and be okay with the idea that, if it doesn't work out or we don't get to it all, we did the best we could at that moment, and that we cannot know how things would have been different if we had chose differently.  Personally, I can live with that.

Thanks to all of you for listening.  In the time since I started this, I've researched fall races and started kicking tires on vacation plans for the next couple of years.  Mojo also texted about his pending visit in the next couple of weeks.  Life is grand.  As for that "meaning of life" clue, here it is - The meaning of life is both the same and different for everyone.  Rumor has it Mojo is working on an "American in Belgium" post; however, he is finally reunited with family after a 3 week work trip and is headed on a well deserved family vacation before heading stateside for a few weeks.  In other words, you'll see us when you see us.  Thank you to the Beatles for playing us out the door.  Hope you all are enjoying your summers.  Hasta.