Memories | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Memories”

30 Apr 2015

What is Left Behind

We are all aware of the saying ” you can’t take it with you”. Over a lifetime [short or long as it may be], we can accumulate a lot of possessions. We can collect a lot of things that help to define who we are personally, along with the junk that really is meaningless in the scheme of things.

But these days more than ever, I realize that it’s not about what I own, and certainly what will happen to it when I’m no longer on this earth. It will fall into the path of history, perhaps be landfill, or someone else’s accumulated prize.

Can I worry about the things I have left behind? Perhaps because I don’t want it to burden my loved ones or anyone else. But spending days worrying about it would be worthless worry. So there you have it. Unless you are a hermit, or you purge yourself of everything you own. You’re going to leave things behind for someone else to deal with.

Rather than “things”, I think more about the people that will I will leave behind. They will continue to live their lives to the fullest, God willing. Our kids will continue to grow as adults, to manage through the very same human complications that made up my daily life.. My wife has been my genuine companion and the love of my life for over 35 years, and I have promised to love her always and forever. It is likely that there will come a day that I will not be there for her, yet our lives are from our mutual love and friendship.

Both my wife and I realize we are rich because of the friendships we have in our lives, those we have come to know recently, as well as those we have been fortunate to call friends over the decades, There are so many. And they are there today sending kind words and thoughts, and sharing in prayer.

There is hope for the future. And what left behind is a future of the legacy of the people in your life. It makes life meaningful. It is the paths crossed, the words said, the friendships and relationships that have changed the course of our lives. That is what means the most. The invested time with friends and family will be everyone’s legacy. It will be God’s legacy.

For that I’m grateful and not sad. I am optimistic about the future for me and for everyone else.It is that legacy is what gets all of us through life with meaning, isn’t it? The legacy and the richness of family, friendships and God’s promise of eternity. That will make what ever happens be okay.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, being remembered, Change, choices, Doubt, Faith, Grace, life is precious, Memories, moments, Personal Legacy, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Value of Life

26 Feb 2015

Lessons Learned Over Time

There’s this song by The Faces which sings about “I wish I knew what I know now when I was younger”. Now I understand the wisdom of age, but when I was young I was certain I had life figured out. I know now that you can get off course from your younger plans.

Off course: That our ideals are sometimes replaced by practicality, that the dreams are sometimes effected by the reality, that life is full of things to embrace but we often run away from them because of our doubt and uncertainty that they are the right things to be embracing.

So there are lessons learned, and like many of my friends and relatives who are with me on the downhill side of the hill, we have a more complete view of the course we have taken. We can see the victories and the mistakes, the failures and the missed opportunities. But life is still good for many of us. It has its priceless golden moments, it has the love of family and friends.

I have learned many lessons only by my experience. Did someone tell me these things when I was younger? Well yeah, maybe and I just didn’t grasp it. A few of them:

Not going to have a positive life hanging around negative people. One of my sons truly understands this and maybe better than I. It’s kind of obvious, but we often blindly don’t see it. I want to tell my kids over and over, be certain that you are surrounded by people who are positive, who don’t want to shape you like them but let you be who you are. Worth repeating.
If something is broke, fix it… don’t just throw it out. We give up very quickly on some things in life that perhaps we shouldn’t. Like friendships, marriages, diets or breaking bad habits. In today’s disposable society I can understand I guess. Just get a new one. Problem is that it costs something – and not always money- to make that work. We don’t think of that right away.
Time is relative only to you and what you do with it. It is the premise of http://www.tracksinthedust.com. TIme goes fast and dust will shift and your footprints will be gone. But the passage of your time on Earth is what you make of it. Time isn’t really real, it is your part in the spinning world and what you believe will happen after you are gone from it that will make a difference in your life.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Advice, choices, Decisions, Grace, Happiness, Life, life is precious, Memories, Opinion, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Who Are You

19 Feb 2015

Forgotten More than I Remember

It is very easy to say “I have forgotten more things than I remember”

But it is funny how something someone says can trigger a memory, how something you see or a song you hear can unlock something that may be years old in your head. Or maybe a smell. I have heard it say that smells are the strongest sense that connects us to recollection of our past.

Today I opened the back door to let the dogs out in the yard, and got the strong smell of pine trees washing its way back in the door on the cool morning air. Immediately I propelled decades back to a day when my best high school chums and I had gone up in the northern woods to stay at a cabin. We had partied pretty hard ( as we were known to do in those days) and we had all gotten up early for some reason. We were sitting on the deck in front of the cabin and chasing “the hair of the dog” (which we were also known to do in those days).

The morning was glorious, the sun was rising over the pines. There were blue-jays in the trees calling out their sharp retort, and loons on the lake ( if you have never hear laughing loons- it is a treat of nature)l The lake was like a mirror and swirls of fish could be seen all over the lake as they came up to feed. The smell of pine was floating over the lake.

We had music playing in the back ground. It was some sort of jazz music. We were listening to so much stuff back then but it was saxophone ( Turrentine, Washington. or something like that). It was a moment to cherish. It was an idyllic moment that we would let come and go on our youthful travel forward.

Maybe that’s why the memory came back today in the simple opening of a door? This precious moment that in my youth was something nice, but in my older years ( and wiser I hope) it means so much more. It is remembering something that was so rich and full of life. It is good to remember that in my minds-eye. A gift.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged being remembered, Happiness, life is precious, Looking Back, Memories, moments, Music, Reality Check, Sensory Memory, Slow Down

15 Feb 2015

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Three Years for Tracksinthedust

Hard to believe that 3 years ago I started writing on Tracksinthedust.com and that its coming up on 10,000 views.

My intention is still the same I guess. Can I leave some messages that our kids may read one day and perhaps reflect on their lives? Advice? Maybe not always, But it has been very self-cleansing as well. I am guessing for most bloggers that is the net result, regardless of how many views you get on a post.

Thanks to all who have been visiting. I couldn’t have asked for more than an occasional stop on the busy travel through the Internet highway.

Some personal observations, some music (the image of the soul), and some self-absorbed lyrics/poetry. Thanks to those who have also visited my other blog: The Cancer Letters. http://www.cancerletters.wordpress.com too.

Tracks in the dust – we are passing through here kind of fast. Will your tracks in the dust last?
Love is what you make it. It’s not about you.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Eternity matters most.

Sharing just a few of some of the older posts over the years.

1 Songs About Changes

2 All Things Must Pass

3 Scale of Accountability

4 Organization in the Clutter of Life

5 The Verb To Love

Posted in About mgert123 and tagged Advice, being remembered, Blogging, Change, Dad Advice, life is precious, Memories, Postive Thinking, relationships, Rock music, Sprituality, tracks in the dust, Wordpress Anniversary

13 Feb 2015

Love Rain

Some of you there is still a few icy months of winter left in the season, while others in distant countries may be in the middle of summer. Either way there is something about rain that I like. Perhaps you do too?

It is the cleansing. the renewal, When the snow is finally gotten so dirty that it is grey and unwelcome, here will come the rain. Not flooding rain but constant rain. There is always something true in the warmth of the days of sunshine.It has its own recharging sense ( like supplying a power pill of Vitamin D). Sun is good- not too much to get sunburned, but the feeling on your face on one of those days that is comfortable enough to let the sun pour over you.

But rain has something for me. The washing off of the dryness of the days before it. The reason to stay protected inside if you can, or to run in it from place to place like it would melt you. But you know better. It is the rain of renewal Some distant thunder would be nice to help complete the picture. No violent crashing lighting exactly, but that thunder that rumbles over the horizon and sounds like it carries for miles across the landscape.

Rain. It is there for the renewal, it is there for the days to paint grey before the color comes. It is rain.

The Beatles: Rain
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