Monthly Archives: July 2011

To The One…You Engaged My Senses and Brought A Moment of Perfection

I’ve been lucky to have known you.
I’ve been fortunate to have loved you.
I’ve been blessed with the fortitude to have a moment of completeness in my life as you passed through exciting my senses and warming the energy around my heart.

You know who you are for you have carried a piece of me with you everywhere you turn.

It is that shared moment that defined a life, that determined a destiny, that felt once again.
Sometimes the hardest part about letting go is realizing that that moment had to happen in its entirety and then let go for the wind to take it away. It is a shared moment of finite perfection that is meant to last, not the eternity of mediocrity hoping to reengage once again what slipped away.

I don’t know what drew me to you other than it just did. It was a tsunami of euphoria that captured my mind, body and soul and swept me into the bottomless abyss of the ocean. Without you, I would not have now; without now I cannot sit here and think of you.

I was fortunate to have been put in a translucent state where destinies found their way to each other and then let their course run. I am not sure if we had control of the time we spent together or time dictated our every word. It is a story that may or may not sometime be told by generations after us.

Those moments are forever on the tombstones of the cemetery in our minds with each stone written the words of our love.

It is within you that I write this

Forever yours….


Goodbye World…A Suicide Note to Everyone

There is no reason to go on with life.

We transition from innocence in youth to a world overrun by fear and tragedy.
We embrace the media’s attempt to exploit misery and death to numb the pain we feel for our own lives.

Throughout life, we are tossed cliche after cliche dictating how “life is hard”, “it helps us grow stronger”, “we have to suffer to find greater success” but why do we have to suffer to find happiness? After all, we have but one life and a short time period to live it. Even during that duration, we all run the risk of disease, disability, and with only a brief moment in time, the risk of instantaneous death. That is too much for any intelligent person to bear. We are cursed and blessed all at the moment of creation. We are born into the most intelligent species with intellect and emotion rolled into our developing brain.

Is this a curse because as we learn and grow, we question life, death, religion and faith in a higher power? Mortality is a wonderful and mysterious idea. It blesses us with the gift of life showering us with beauty, love, tranquility and peace but also gives the power to destroy and corrupts us with temptation, greed, gluttony and other sinful acts of emotional and physical aggression.

We find ourselves back at the center of a neutral debate.

Often when put on the brink of determining life or death, it is an action that prompts this internal debate. It can be losing a loved one, experiencing a catastrophic event, learning of an illness, or finding yourself at a low point in your life. It is then that simplicity rears its head and provides an easy way out. Whether there is an afterlife or not, it is the easy solution. For me…only.

The curse of intellect is that all of us bear the pain of the death of others while the soul less body lay at peace while we all morn. That doesn’t seem fair, so in a way, suicide is a very selfish solution.

That certainly adds another factor to this decision. Do I understand the reprecussions this will have on others who are a part of my life, or do I just not care given that I will be void of life and all the emotional pain attached to it.

In fairness to myself and others, have I looked at all the other possibilities?

Of course not, since life is an unpredictable act of chance. We are given certain pawns (money, social status, jobs, friends, family) that helps shape our decisions, but clearly an impossibility to deny the possibility of life improving as we move toward the future.

There we go, over-thinking a life altering decision. Just as I consciously talked about the human mind, I am verbally questioning the entire thought of suicide. In a jury, a decision must be unanimous, why shouldn’t be use that calculated logic toward a decision like this? That is an excellent thought, but the difference between a jury and a suicide is that I determine my future and the action I will take to achieve that end. Maybe I need to talk this through to people I trust so that all options are weighed. Clearly, anyone that cares about me will say “don’t kill yourself”. Hopefully, all will. That certainly cannot help but it does open the door of debate.

I have no intention of committing suicide, nor has the thought even breached my mind, but I like millions throughout the world suffer from depression, loneliness, sorrow, poverty, illness and feelings of isolation. The truth is, we need that in our lives. The complexity of the human mind is developed by the range of emotions that create a melting pot. It is this melting pot that creates the unconscious feelings we address every day. Whether it is our dreams, love at first site, deep sorrow for a loss, exhilaration from winning a race, the joy of seeing a loved one who was gone for a long time, or the peace you find in a sunset over the ocean blue, we need all of the collective energy of our thoughts to give us the pure euphoria that is life.

This letter is not reaching out to just those that have thought about the easy way out, but to those that may think about it in the future. In a way, this is not an attempt to talk you out of it, but to bring awareness to the completeness of such a decision. When you think about the gift of life, create a mental bag and put everything in it that is truly important to you. Include the good and bad because without bad, you wouldn’t know good. You will be surprised how heavy that bag is.

When you think there is such a burden on you that you cannot move forward, understand that the burden is everything that encompasses your life, darkness, light, loneliness, together, sadness and happiness.

Think twice….


Happy Birthday and Happy July 4th George…Thank you for resurrecting a city and a franchise

On this the Fourth of July, we gather with family and friends and reflect on the freedoms that so many brave men and women fought eight years for so that we may see the sun rise and set under the auspice of a free nation. These freedoms hold a greater truth as they present us all with the gift of free will to choose. We are a nation built on the ability to govern, live, love and share in the compassion and well being of others. This is a truly meaningful day that should be celebrated 365 days a year. Under a crisp blue sky and later showering the darkness with all the colors of the rainbow, remember the gift our forefathers gave us and keep them in your memories.

If history has a way of reminding us of the momentous moments, remember that on July 4th, 1826, within hours of each other, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two of most prominent advocates of freedom passed away. 175 years later, we see reminders of them and others in our everyday lives.

Alas, when we think of America’s pastime and the true symbols of our land, we think of baseball.

“You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.” ~Roy Campanella

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” ~Rogers Hornsby

“Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” ~Ted Williams

It is the anticipation you feel when winter ends and spring training begins. The ache in your stomach waiting on the first pitch of the season. The sound of the bat hitting the ball. The feeling of teamwork when a runner rounds the bases to be met by 26 others. There is nothing greater than gathering at the park, smelling the fresh mowed grass and seeing your idols in clean uniforms run to their respective positions.

On January 3, 1973, George Steinbrenner, during a difficulty recessionary period in New York City and a time when the mighty New York Yankees were sliding, bought the team for ten million dollars. During that time, he helped the Yankees win 7 World Series Titles, 11 pennants, 16 Eastern Division Titles, a new spring training facility in Tampa, Florida, made the NY Yankees the most sold sports merchandise name in the world and brought a city back to life. With names like Jackson, Munson, Hunter, Cerone, Dent, Mercer, Rivers, Mattingly, O’Neil, Jeter, Pettite, Clemens, Williams, Ford, and A-Rod, the NY Yankees redefined the meaning of baseball and shed new light on the greatest city in the world. When George passed away on July 13, 2010, just prior to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, a nation wept. Typically the loss of an owner does not reach iconic status but George Steinbrenner was much more than a businessman. He was a father figure, a visionary and a man that believed that baseball is the end all to the greater good. He saw childhood dreams become a reality and made people believe once again in the power of baseball.

For that, we thank you and remember you always.

On this July 4th, as we raise the flag of freedom, let us not forget America’s past-time and the impact Mr. George Steinbrenner had and continues to have on the game of baseball.


Forever Young: What Makes Love Last?

This weekend marked the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Maxine and Frank. Glowing with the same strong sense of love, comfort and romance as the day they met. Over the years, with added wit, sarcasm, nagging, laughter, tears, friendship and tolerance to the mix, Maxine and Frank has developed a left of comfort and caring that we can all take lessons. On Friday night, in front of friends and family, they danced to their first dance in the living room of the townhouse with gleaming smiles, was a testimony to the strength of their love.

As we stayed up, into the late hours of the evening and talked about the “good old days”, we heard four generations blend together as stories of World War II and IPod technology mixed in a medley of dialogue. Over the years our society has dealt with racism, antisemitism, hatred, recession and family struggle. It was refreshing to hear such stories of how individual couples dealt with their surroundings to persevere and thrive based on the strength of their feelings for one another.

All too often we think too much about aging and death and lose focus on the moment. When we grow up and start understanding our surroundings, vanity and youth take over our perceptions and once that is lost, many slip into a pit of despair as they feel they have been cheated away their youth, and there is nothing left but to wait. Life is about understanding your passions and weighing them against your limitations. For Frank and Maxine, their limitations are their strength. To the two of them, life is part of what we all accept. We will slow down and be limited on what we can do but, they harness that and make it work to their advantage. Seeing them with their daughter and grandchildren, you would have thought they just drank seven energy drinks. The days started early and ended late with Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Jamestown, dining and taking in so much of their surroundings.

The week, like many major milestone events was an diverse mix of backgrounds, ages, and cultures coming together with the single goal of celebrating a life of love. Having Maxine and Frank in my life since birth, it was easy to slip back into conversations of reflection on memories that we all shared. I feel we all need that in our lives from time to time. It reveals that we shared the same pains and rejoice in the same celebrations, but it takes a major event to open up our hearts and share.

What is the great love story? Is it meeting by chance in a random setting or making the grand gesture in front of a large crowd or seeing someone for the first time and knowing you want to spend the rest of your life with them. It is all of the above, but the greatest testimony of love is not a single moment, but each and every day you spend together, learning from each other and sharing.

I was invited to spend a week celebrating the matrimony of Maxine and Frank and instead, ended up getting a life lesson from my family and my extended family.

Congratulations Maxine and Frank and thank you for letting us be a part of your life.


I Love the 80′s…The Music That Is (Playlist)

No matter how much time passes in our lives, we are always brought back to the golden age of anything goes music, the 80′s. It was a decade without rhyme or reason, but one that showered us with one hit wonders and catchy chorus’ that seem to make their way into our lives with every passing holiday or retro episode of our favorite shows.

It was a time where lines were crossed and inclusion of all lifestyles, beliefs, and personalities were accepted. Trends were a dime a dozen from the Rubik’s Cube to the Pet Rock. This was a decade that may have laid the foundation for the innovation wave we are experiencing today.

For that, the music was a critical factor in the evolution of modern society.

In celebration on this Fourth of July Weekend, we have created this diverse playlist of songs both popular and obscure to give you a virtual time machine back to the 80′s. Enjoy this mix of rock, pop, rap, love, disco, electric and just crazy mayhem.

By the end, you should be “Dancing in the Streets that Have No name with some West end Girls, or maybe do a little Overkill Down under or even go to a White Wedding where you will meet a girl that will Kiss You Deadly

Click link for full playlist:

Why We Love the 80′s Music Mix


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