Saturday, January 22, 2005

Expectations vs. Disappointment: Life's reality

There is a major snow storm heading to the New England area. Reports have been changing as the time gets loser to its arrival on the amount of snow expected. Yesterday morning, 6-10" was forecasted. In the afternoon, it rose to 10-12" and by early evening it grew to 1-2 feet. Fortunately the forecast seems to have settled into this range now. The snow is supposed to be powdery with high winds and potential for drifting.

How nice for this winter wonderland to arrive this weekend. I had been planning for my 400M at the GBTC Invitational for quite some time, and now competing in this race may be in jeopardy.

Before I go too far along this rather selfish and self-centered line of thought, I stop myself. I think of the Southeast Asia tsunami that struck without warning and for those in the area that survived, life has not been the same. Nor will it be for some time.

"Life is what happens to you when you have other plans" is what I remember well from a small plaque that my mother used to have in the kitchen. I tried to Google it and find out the source. It seems to be one of those author unknown.

I did find this good link on a commencement address by Beth Polson.

"Then she offered five rules for success:

``You can't know where you are going if you don't know where you've been. Find something that's important to you and do the very best you can. . . .

``The only difference between success and failure is effort. . . .

``If you think you can, you're right. If you think you can't, you're right.

``Life is what happens to you when you have other plans. . . .

``The F words: Faith, Family, Friends. Nothing you do and no career you choose will be as important as your decisions in these three areas. . . .''

I like these. I don't think you can go wrong by following this advice.

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