First Draft

Everything I write is a first draft. When I was in school, English teachers would tell the class to just start writing and not think about anything. The mind interferes with the transfer of the message. I could not agree more. I had to write this now. So many times I think of something, laying in bed, and think, "I will write that tomorrow," and then life happens. I can't do that with this one.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" is like my cinematic Ben and Jerry's. It is a love-hate thing. Now, I cannot recall the last time I had Ben and Jerry's, but I can remember the last time a movie passed along so many different messages. I recorded it so my 12-year old daughter can learn about perseverance. I write this so that maybe I can make sense of the tears that flow each and every time I watch that movie.

We all have hills to climb. Tall mountains and sometimes low valleys. Even though the year is about half over, I have climbed a lifetime of mountains. As much as I would like to retire my climbing shoes, I won't. I can't. There are too many lessons to be learned by the trials these escapades bring. Many times I felt like letting go of my grip and free falling, hoping that somewhere in the bottomless chasm we call life there would be a DO OVER; a children's climbing wall. The climbs get hard, and most times, you feel alone.

Through my trek up these mountains I have seen the power of support from all different angles. I have seen miracles, more than most can anticipate in many lifetimes. I wasn't sure I deserved any of it. It isn't a matter of what we deserve. It is human nature to think that we cannot move forward at the pace the mountain may beckon. It is the outside world whispering for us to take a break and relax knowing full well the momentum that has been built will fade away into the wind. I say no, as I have said for the last few months and whisper back, "fuck off and die."

Momentum. It is key to every adversity we face, often daily. Even a tumbleweed can climb a fence if it knows how to use momentum. Support creates momentum, from friends and family who know the capabilities of those in a struggle with the elements of life. We cannot give up on those we love or they will give up on the climb and surely perish. I have seen what support can do; those we love not whispering for us to give up and that the top is just a top. Nothing special, just an end destination. Whatever the end is, I will determine its importance in my life. I will reap its rewards because it is mine.

Our lives are a first draft. The words penned through action. Mistakes and victories all melded together into a never ending novel; a proverbial "Choose Your Own Adventure." The decisions we make will change the outcome of the story, long before it is published. Without the support of others, the story is short. It is like life. One moment, you live forever. The next moment, adversity cuts your rope, leaving you dangling on a toe hold.

What would you do?