365 Days Around The Sun

3

Passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for something.  What is your passion?  I think about what my passion is and sometimes I do not know.  I opened my eyelids today, maybe that is my passion. Or maybe it is The Green Bay Packers.  Is my passion something that can be seen or unseen?  I often think of the late Jim Valvano and his Passion and Enthusiasm the motto “don’t give up, don’t ever give up” 3 times 2, yeah ok so add one word to make it 7.  In a matter of words. He also had this to say at the espy awards:

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special”

Was it because I grew up a few blocks from the man so many adored?  Or was it because the man I frequently met meant so much to the World!  Did that speech mean so much to me, yes, it is true now!  I grew up in MacGregor Downs and I went to school with his middle daughter as they lived just up the road. We rode the bus together, sat at the same stump chatting every day.  I remember one story she told me one day, Jim happened to chat with someone at NC State and said “I’m Jim Valvano from Iona college, questioning his resume the person on the other line said, “You own a College”.True story.  Jim was Intense and had passion. He went on to win the NCAA tournament in his 3^rd year at NC State.  Jim’s daughter was awesome and in high school and she got a Mustang at 16; a red one.  And we no longer rode the bus together, yet she stopped by the stoop and picked me up taking me to “The Peak of Good Living” Apex High School…that phrase is on the water tower if you don’t believe me, and I am now proud to call it HOME.

Warm beer hurts but it sometimes is good to have one in the morning as a ‘little hair of the dog’ for breakfast.  Does it fix a hangover NO, but does it make your head hurt less?  YUP.

Well, I woke up this mornin’
                   And I got myself a beer
               Well, I woke up this mornin’
                    And I got myself a beer
                     The future’s uncertain
                And the end is always near

Signed, Jim Morrison.

Some want OJ for breakfast I prefer beer warm or cold if I leave this world, I will love you Miller.  If we never meet again; this side of heaven I will always love, you.  Am I getting off topic, Yes, yes I am.  A passion for beer. You see Jim was a leader I am not and that is ok.  We all have our friends and things we are passionate about, and we are all vulnerable to things we love to do and our addictions.

Dale Earnhardt was one of the most famous if not the most famous race car drivers from Kannapolis North Carolina.  He drove the number 3 Goodwrench car,and he had a passion for going FAST  He was unbelievable and proved his competitors correct when he would win a race.   The day he died I was in Daytona, and I still remember my boss watching the wreck and saying, “Get to the midfield center NOW!” Mike Helton said we lost Dale Earnhardt while my footage was shown on ESPN, Scott Pryzwansky and I worked about a 30 plus hour day and a half from dawn till dusk to dawn to noon as we did live shots for TV stations throughout the world for CBS affiliates, we lost #3 and I was a part of that moment, not for the good or bad, just a moment in history.

I loathe the number 3.  That was until my daughter was born in March and the 3 felt new to me!  Th end is always near. Laugh, Think and Cry and it will be a damn good life.