A Dad’s Point-of-View

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Revisiting Gratitude

February 21, 2012 in Family

Nearly seven years ago, I fell asleep at the wheel of my truck. The resulting accident – with the cruise control set at 72 mph – should have killed me, or worse. I walked away with nary a meaningful scratch as did my dog, who was thrown from the vehicle when we veered off the highway. As I drive that same route regularly, a recent visit to the crash site made me reflect on how lucky I was then and how lucky I am now.

Perspective is something that allows us to appreciate our lives, our families, and our country. The accident occurred in June 2005. I was grateful then and have been living a life of gratitude almost ever since. Let’s take a look at that story with some excerpts from what I wrote shortly afterwards (italicized):

Driving alone on 395, I fell asleep at the wheel. Startled awake as the car drove screamingly over the shoulder, I grabbed the wheel and holding on for dear life, tried desperately to control the swerving bucking SUV. The car crashed through a barbed wire barrier and headed down into a river wash. Over boulders the size of large beach balls, the car literally flew nose-first into the wash. The momentum carried the car into a front side flip, spiraling over once or twice, landing right side up, and facing the opposite direction.

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Values, Money, Our Kids, and the Real World

January 26, 2012 in Family

There is a reason that money is on that short list of things that couples argue about most. What are the other things? Sex, and the kids, of course. With the state of our worldwide economy being in such flux, money is a more pressing issue for couples and families than any other time in my life. Plus, we have the glorious – and I use that word facetiously* – social development in which both parents work, more than ever before.

As a baby-boomer, it’s my unequivocal opinion that the only good thing “My Generation” produced was some pretty terrific music. I blame our generation for the deterioration of the family unit; the decline in actual honest discourse at our campuses, and raising the most spoiled generation of children in human history. Oh, we’re also responsible for tearing down many pillars of society from the military to the police, politicians to anyone over 30. How ironic given that Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and so many others qualify for AARP now!

Threats to Our Lifestyle

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by Bruce Sallan

No New Year’s Resolutions

December 29, 2011 in Boomers, Our Lives

Bruce Sallan

For the past few years, I’ve written a New Year’s resolutions column. One year it was pretty straightforward while another year I scored the previous year’s resolutions using baseball terms and statistics. But, the reality is that I feel about New Year’s resolutions a little bit like I feel about New Year’s Eve. It’s a big nothing and usually a waste of money!

The best New Year’s Eves I’ve ever had have been with my wife, alone at home, a great movie or two to watch, and a good bottle of champagne to share after we’d made and eaten a wonderful meal together. One New Year’s Eve, when my first-born son was just 13 months old, we sat down to watch a movie, happily full from the meal we had just consumed. This was when I was married, to my first wife: the mother of my two boys.

The champagne was nearby in a bucket of ice and we were enjoying sipping it in our flutes that we’d gotten as wedding gifts. Our son was also busy. He was enjoying his new “school bus.” This was the kind of wheeled toy in which the toddler can straddle it and use his feet push it along.
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by Bruce Sallan

Music is God’s Drug

December 20, 2011 in Boomers, Our Lives

Bruce Sallan

Some of my best thinking is when I walk around the lake near our home. Often, I will listen to music. My taste is decidedly eclectic and recently I listened to the overture from The King and I and realized how I’ve grown to appreciate beautiful music more as I’ve aged in sharp contrast to my son’s love of angry rock ‘n’ roll. Yeah, I still love the music I grew up with but I now tend to appreciate more classical, standards, and even country. And, let’s face it music and love certainly go together well!

A Theory About Our Music Taste

I have a theory about the average person’s music taste. It is simply that it is formed during the decade or so from the teens to career and marriage. Obviously, that may be more than a decade but the idea remains the same regardless of the exact number of years.

Most of us start our music journey and serious exploration of our own choices in music simultaneous with the journey of independence that goes along with becoming a teenager. We begin to listen to music our generation enjoys. We buy music and begin attending concerts with our peers. Read the rest of this entry →