The meaning of happiness changes with time.  I am sure that I am not the only person that during their life has equated happiness to success and all the material things that come from success, but there is so much more to true happiness.  Every now and then we need a reminder from God to help us understand and appreciate our morality.  Nothing is forever, although at times we live our lives like they will never end.  Over the past five years I have come to have a better understanding of happiness and what happiness really is and it certainly is not measured by material things. 

In April 03, I held a great position where I worked, a great salary, etc.etc.  Then one evening I received a call that said my son, a San Diego Police Officer was hit and in critical condition in the Hospital.  My world seemed to stop at that point as my family and I flew to San Diego.  After ten days and several hard discussions with neurosurgeons we had to make the decision to take him off life-support.  The first lesson I had to learn was to accept the reality of what had happened, and that no matter how many times me and my family asked, Why me Lord?, there really was no answer to that question then and there never would be.  What happened happened, and in order to continue on we would need to accept it as hard as it was.  That was an important lesson he taught me and although I didn’t know it then, it would be a great lesson to learn.  In October of that year I had success quadruple open heart surgery discovered before I had a fatal heart attack.

Over the next four years I had two life threatening operations, and three serious motorcycle accidents to include my recent accident when I was broad sided by a deer at 55 miles an hour and ended up rolling down the highway for sixty feet at the end of which, the only injuries I suffered were bruises and a few scraps.  None of these have kept me from continuing on with life.

What does all this have to do with happiness?  It sounds like none of this is happiness.  The answer is; that I have come to realize that my mortality is not a sure thing and that as things happen to us, we can’t simply stop living the lives that really bring us happiness.  Accept what is given and keep getting up, and going on with your life.  My son always said, Dad one day I am going to ride coast to coast on my motorcycle, but he never found the time to live that dream.  This year in his honor, I will make my fourth ride cross country and will continue to do so every year so long as I can sit on my motorcycle.

Too many people keep putting off the things they really want to do until the right item, for so many that time never comes.   Their life of wish I had, should have, could have ends having never gotten to really find happiness in living their life.  Now I do whatever it is I want to do because, like my son and everyone else we never know when our chance to do those things will be gone.  I believe there is a God and we must understand they mortality is really a fleeting thing and that life has no guarantees and was meant to be live to its fullest and enjoyed with your friends.  Even a bad experience is better than not having had the experience at all.

I thank all my friends, old new and yet unmet for helping make my life a happy one and I sincerely hope that over the coming years I get to meet many of you in person and share a funny story, a hand shake, a hug, and a smile.  After all that is happiness because it will be doing something I want to do.

The Spartan

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