Who You Are

Now that the Baby Boomer is in the Winter of his life, he’s finally, after all this time, come to terms with who he is and what’s truly important. Hopefully, at some point, we’ll all be able to know “who you are”!

One thing’s for sure and that this fella finally left what ego he may have had “at the door” twenty-five years ago when he opted to leave his career in the supermarket industry. He hopes no one really takes themselves too seriously as we’re each just one of 8.1 billion and we all “put our pants on the same way.” Remember, thirty years after your death, no one will probably even remember, let alone, miss you. Yep, the Baby Boomer finally matured and quit sipping that “corporate Kool-Aid” coming to the realization that he really wasn’t doing the important work he thought he was, rather, realizing it was just a job. Now, I’m envious of those who’ve devoted their lives to public service, those who cure disease, eliminate poverty, solve world hunger, and bring peace to those who find themselves at war. Truly, these are the people who are making a difference and they’ve earned my total respect and I hope yours.

Being a human being who suffers from human frailties, this Baby Boomer knows for a fact that he wouldn’t be fortunate enough to be in the position he’s in if it were not for La Bear–and vice versa. Certainly, I possess, just like everyone possesses, traits which allow us to perform well. But, since we’re far from perfect, we each possess traits which we have come to know as our weaknesses. The Baby Boomer and La Bear have grown to know and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, have accepted them, and have worked with some success in maintaining our strengths while improving our weaknesses. In other words, we work well together and completely complement one another. We understand our marriage is a partnership and commitment is of the utmost importance as we’re committed to one another.

Hey, marriage is hard work and it’s really easy to understand why so many of us divorce. To me there’s nothing more important than one’s integrity and when we accepted our marriage vows, we became committed to one another until death do us part. Yes, there’s a lot of give and take, there are disagreements which lead to arguments, but at the end of the day we come to terms with our differences and never ever go to bed angry as we all know tomorrow is never promised.

We’ve found over our forty-six years of marriage, having celebrated our anniversary on July 28th to which many of you shared your congratulations, that we each have responsibilities in our partnership. The Baby Boomer was placed in charge of “provisions” while La Bear was in charge of “family and administration”. I had the easy part in comparison as La Bear has always been the glue which had kept our “house of cards” together.

Knowing how the Baby Boomer likes to keep things simple and usually in “4’s”, we tried, not always being successful, promising each other: 1) to be respectful of one another and always tell the truth; 2) to not say to one another six things we wanted to say but knew we shouldn’t; 3) to pick and choose our battles and in the spirit of compromise just say, “you’re probably right”; and 4) as previously pointed out to never go to bed angry.

Since the beginning, we’ve always been in love with one another. However, the Baby Boomer is here to tell you we’ve never been more in love with one another until now. As the 1969 song by the Spiral Staircase stated–“I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow”!! Hey, we’ve been through a lot with one another and we depend on one another each and every day. I’m not saying we’ve been through more than other couples for I’m sure we’ve all experienced “enough” of both the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the happiness and the sadness, and through the good and the bad health crises. All this has only strengthened our partnership and allowed us to realize who we are.

From one man’s perspective–this man–La Bear has always been objectively blunt letting me know exactly how it really is just like the time she told me all I had was a job and it was time to grow up and come home to be with what was important meaning our family. Guess what? La Bear was right and seemingly has always been right–it’s just one of her many strengths!!

Those of you who read this blog may recall from previous posts that it’s HELL getting old and how time flies with both being certainly true here. Hey, we’re in our seventies and this “old gray mare ain’t what he used to be” as there are many days where it’s challenging just to get around–my how things have changed!!

But, at least, the Baby Boomer knows who he is and that’s the lesser half of a partnership with La Bear who understands the importance of family just wanting our family to be happy. Hey, I’m not the easiest person to be around, I can certainly be difficult, demanding, set in my ways, opinionated, and thinking I’m always right among many other undesirable traits. It’s only because of La Bear who has withstood and persevered remaining steadfast, loyal, and always showing unconditional love which has sustained me. Without her presence, I’m just half a person as being with her has, indeed, made me whole. Remembering what Kenny Rogers and the First Edition sang in 1970, “something’s BURNING and I think it’s LOVE”!!

Well, I don’t have a bucket list just two requests along with just one thing missing in my life both of which I’ve previously posted. My two requests are to live long enough for our little grandson, Master M, to remember me and the second is to take one breath less than La Bear as I could never ever live without her knowing now who I am. The only thing missing in my life is time and time, unfortunately, is not on my side. But, again, I know who I am!!!!