Tag Archives: don’t stop believing

Life

Lessons Learned in 2018

Leave a comment

It is my usual mindset to maintain a positive attitude about life and I have been trying to do this for all I am worth, today is December 31, 2018 and a moment of reflection is definitely in order. I am going to find it difficult to have any sort of reminiscence of this past 365 and be positive. It was a year of immense growth, and gigantic loss. A year of miraculous wonder in both positive and negative ways.  Each season of the year had its own story and each one was remarkably true to the weather and the temperature of the season. To be positive about the things I lost in 2018 would be disingenuous and borderline hypocritical. So although I am going to pick up the positive tomorrow, today I am taking a moment to put the hard lessons of 2018 into perspective and to move forward with the knowledge the year left to me.

Things I Learned This Year 2018

  1. Life is full of surprises- I learned that I am still able to be surprised in both positive and negative ways by life. Unexpected things happened, numerous times bringing me the experience of  unimaginable joy and heartbreaking sadness.  It makes me both leary and excited for the future and I guess that is as good a definition of life as we are ever going to get.
  2. All I know is I know nothing- We fool ourselves, I think, into thinking that we are gaining knowledge over years to be able to live our lives in a safe, orderly manner.  I am here to tell you this is just not true. As soon as you think you have figured it all out. Life will punch you in the nose, run you over with a car and toss you out of a moving car.  Why is this?  I am hoping it isn’t because life is sadistic, but maybe because we need to have challenges to continue to grow.  As the lesson here states clearly, I know absolutely nothing about life and am just trying to survive into 2019.  If you know the answers and the rules, please let me know.
  3. Love is a complicated thing– I know this is not a news flash, and anyone who has lived life knows this, but I have learned that love is made up of more than just words, saying I love you is not enough. It involves love, kindness, appreciation, trust, faith, and respect to name a few. When all are present it is a wonderful experience.  It is THE thing that makes life wonderful and joyful. Beware it comes with a lot of danger and potential pain attached.  But nothing great comes without a little bit of risk. That is what makes it so wonderful when it works out and painful when it is lost.
  4. Nothing Gold Can Stay- It is poem by Robert Frost and I read it when I was a kid reading the Outsiders by SE Hinton. My life has had many of these moments but none have provided an example of the temporary nature of things as 2018.  I enjoyed each moment and I have that in my heart, but would I have dared to live it if I knew it wouldn’t last? I am not sure. All I do know is, life is impermanent, we are all imperfect, and in that imperfection there is a unique beauty of life. That hurts. 
    Nature’s first green is gold, 
Her hardest hue to hold. 
Her early leaf’s a flower; 
But only so an hour. 
Then leaf subsides to leaf. 
So Eden sank to grief, 
So dawn goes down to day. 
Nothing gold can stay.
  5. If you want to see God laugh, tell him about your plans-  I am sure that many people have grand plans, and set out to make them turn into reality and I think the big goals are great and things to work on.  But it is the every day plans of constructing your life where this sentence comes to my life. I was sure six months ago what my life would look like right now. Positive. Had no doubt.  What was the laughing in the background? Who was that chuckling at my certainty? My unmitigated arrogance.  If God wasn’t laughing, he should have been because I could never have thought I would be where I am right now a scant 6 months later.  Some of it is good, some is not so good. All of it was unexpected.  Glad you enjoyed yourself God.
  6. You can do anything you put your mind to- I have seen this happen in small and big ways. If you set your intention on something, make a plan and then take the necessary action steps toward that thing, you can make it happen. Some achievements will come quickly and some take a lot more time. But all can be accomplished. It doesn’t matter if it is career you are searching for or a special rare treat you would like to eat. Whatever it is, you can turn it into a reality.  If you set an intention, make a plan and take the necessary action steps.
  7. Someone who believes in you helps-  Believing in yourself is THE most important aspect of accomplishment. Having someone in your life who believes in your goals and talents is number two. It can provide motivation to work on your dream and inspiration to make it great. Unfortunately when that person stops believing in you, it can set you back.  If the one you trust for motivation and inspiration no longer believes in you, you feel like your talent, and ideas are no longer valid. They are, evaluate your creativity in your own mind. Even though you have trusted and had faith in someone, having trust and faith in yourself is the most important thing you can do.  Believe in the dreams you have and have faith that life is helping you if you take your actions.
  8. Don’t Stop Believing- The Journey song has never had more meaning to me. I have gained and lost faith in life this year. I have literally flown like a bird and seen the freedom from above. I have crashed and burned like the Hindenburg. It has been tempting to lose faith in other people, life, the world, you, me, Elvis, everything!! But as I sit here and feel the last moments of 2018 drift away into the reaches of history,  I can’t stop believing just yet.  There is going to be a new day tomorrow, and it will be the dawn of a new year. I don’t know what that year may hold for me, but I want to have the faith in my heart it will be good.  Dreams will come true and happy times will come along.  As much as I want to stop believing, I am just going to hold on to that feeling, streetlights people…………

So now as I end this last creative blurb from 2018 I am going to try to be as positive as possible. It isn’t easy. I think all years have a lot of the same things in them. Surprises, joy, love, heartbreak, sadness, victory and defeat.  2018 has brought all of these to me in a special way and I know that there will never be another one quite like it. I am hoping to take the good, forget the bad, forgive the people who have harmed me, and love those who have loved me.  This life is a short ride after all and our time is running out to accomplish our dreams.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,     
And miles to go before I Sleep. 

Nostalgicmusicmonth

Turn Me Loose on the Midnight Train to Anywhere

Leave a comment

Nostalgic Music Month Day 28

Journey by Jon Hilton

In the early 80’s the music of Steve Perry and the group Journey was a part of the fabric of my life. When I remember the high school freshman version of myself. I am sitting in an English class at Lincoln Academy, listening to my teacher Mr. Murphy rattle on about sentence structure. Staring out the window at the rain-soaked soccer field, watching the seagulls fly around and eat worms. My only thought was, “I have four more years of this? I’ll never make it through the boredom.”  The Journey song, Don’t Stop Believing always takes me back to that version of myself and the lessons I learned then. I did make it and it wasn’t all that bad. Now those days are just a random memory or two.  Thank you, Journey, for all the help along the way.

  1. Don’t Stop Believin’– From the opening notes, this song always makes me feel 15. Even though I have never been to Detroit, and I have never taken the midnight train to anywhere, I can relate to that feeling as a young man. We all have dreams, goals, and things we want to experience in life. I am still chasing my dreams and will continue until the day the game ends. This song was a motivation then and it still is today. There is always a chance to achieve success and get what you want in life.  Just Don’t Stop Believing. Working hard to get my fill.Everybody wants a thrill. Payin’ anything to roll the dice, Just one more time. Some will win, some will lose. Some were born to sing the blues. Oh, the movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on.
  2. Lights– This song takes me to a visit of the 19-year-old version of me. I was living in South Portland, at SMVTI. It was located right on the ocean and at night you had the perfect view of Portland Harbor with all the lights of the city and the boats coming and going along with the lighthouse at Spring Point. It was a time of freedom and growth that only a young man can know. If I only knew how much more I needed to learn then. But youth doesn’t see life that way. It is protected by a lack of experience and a confidence life can take away from you. We were all golden then.  When the lights go down in the city. And the sun shines on the bay. I want to be there yeah, in my city. Ooh, ooh. So you think you’re lonely
    Well, my friend, I’m lonely too. I want to go back to my city by the bay.
  3. Wheel In the Sky– Most functional people set goals and have desires about the things they want to achieve. Sometimes we experience glitches in the system that appear to be setbacks toward our dreams. But when you look at any experience from the end back, you can see how that perceived bad luck actually pushed you toward success. You gained a valuable skill or learned a lesson you needed. That is how the game of life works. The wheel in the sky reminds me of this, to be hopeful in our down times that they will take you where you want to go. It is just not in the fashion you thought you would arrive there. Life is a growth game,  it serves people well to remember that. Oh the wheel in the sky keeps on turning
    I don’t’ know where I’ll be tomorrow.
  4. Feeling That Way– If you have any doubt that Steve Perry’s voice isn’t one of the greatest instruments in music, then listen to this song. When Perry sings his part it grabs you and makes you remember all the times that you were wondering if she was feeling that way about you, or not. This song is a memory of all of those summertime romances. Some were feeling that way and some weren’t. All of the lovely ones that I am thinking of had an impact on me in the best of ways. Take a trip to a memory and listen to this song and appreciate the talent that is and was Steve Perry.  When the summer’s gone. She’ll be there standing by the light. What she’s been to, where she’s gone to. She should know wrong from right. Is she feeling? Are you feeling, you feeling that way too?  Or am I just, am I just a fool?
  5. Still They Ride– Even though it has been over 30 years since I had my moments of growth at Lincoln Academy. There is still a part of me that is firmly rooted in that community. it takes a short trip to
    Midnight train going anywhere

    Damariscotta/Newcastle to be flooded with memories of those old times and the people that I shared that experience with. I still see Wright’s Store in my mind, the arcade at Laverdiere’s.  Yellowfront Grocery downtown, and a thousand other things that have changed. I don’t want them back because they could never be as good in reality as they seem in my memory.  But maybe just for a moment, we can still cruise through town and see those familiar faces one more time.  This ol’ town, ain’t the same
    Now nobody knows his name. Times have changed, still, he rides. Traffic lights, keepin’ time. Leading the wild and restless through the night.

    Loverboy  by Mike Martin

    Today is a good day to pick on my uncle Billy. I coached Madelyn’s softball team this year. I was somewhat hesitant to volunteer my serveries to the team.  Madelyn, like her father, is intense. She speaks her mind and is not scared to show her emotions.

    These facts left me hesitant to lead the team because I wasn’t sure how Maddy would respond to my leadership style. She responded well and the season was a success, concluding with a playoff victory and a sleepover birthday party.

    After our playoff win, the Superstars (the name the 9 and 10-year-old team members decided to call our team) were all recognized for a prominent trait they had shown over the course of the season.

    We, the coaches of the Belgrade Superstars, gave each team member a team photo with a certificate, an award thanking them for their commitment and dedication. Superstars were recognized for loyalty, leadership, dedication, confidence, courage, positive attitude, and other qualities that they brought to our team. Maddy was recognized for her passion.

    Passion is a Martin family tradition and every time I watched Maddy respond passionately to a circumstance created from her involvement on the team. I would think of my uncle Billy.

    Bill Martin is a passionate man. When I was young, I spent much time with my uncle. He is someone that can be counted on. He was always available for the loan of a car or a ride to the concert. (Or a ride home from California but that is a story for another day)

    Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Throughout the 1980s, Loverboy accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, earning four multi-platinum albums and selling millions of records.

    In 1982, Loverboy was extremely popular, and when they were scheduled to play at the Augusta Maine Civic Center during the summer of 1982, all my friends wanted to go. I could have found another ride to the show, but my uncle Billy volunteered to be our chaperon, so I had to accept his offer

    I was thankful for the ride, but my uncle, my cousin Heidi and our friend Lisa Rowe were ready to leave long before I was. I am not sure how Heidi and Lisa found me during Loverboy’s performance, but they did, so I had to leave early. Just like I’m ending this post early because Jon Hilton is in a hurry because he is working this weekend vs Working For The Weekend.

    Everybody’s working for the weekend
    Everybody wants a little romance
    Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end
    Everybody needs a second chance, oh
    You want a piece of my heart
    You better start from start
    You wanna be in the show
    Come on baby lets go

     

    Loverboy – Turn Me Loose 
    I was born to run
    I was born to dream
    The craziest boy you ever seen
    I gotta do it my way
    Or no way at all

    Please, have a great day, and if you have any questions, drop us a line and please partake in #OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth and while you are at it take a trip to Greenville, Maine-I understand the foliage is majestic this time of year! #visitGreenville

    #OctoberNostalgicMusicMonth #visitGreenville