Day 1

Day 1.

A new and revived spirit. Combined with a solid plan, good friends and family behind us, let's start this journey. I'm gonna teach you all to fly, remember? A journey of a thousand steps. Or in our case, I'm going with 730 days.

That will take us to 9-11-2016. Surely that'll be long enough to mend our hearts. By then, we will be a stronger nation. At that time, we will be able to look back at these times and smile. The memory of our pain will be reduced. The agony we feel looking at the graphic images, hearing the stories, that will have passed, right?

Hell no. We will NEVER forget what happened that day. We will NEVER forget what took place in New York City, at the Pentagon, or in a field in rural Pennsylvania. That's one of the reasons I picked 9-11. As an ending, but even more importantly, a beginning. A journey of 730 days, starting today. 9-11 is the perfect day to take the first step in our new "skin", while leaving behind the old tattered and worn out shell. Let the burdens of the past feed off what's left behind, we're learning to fly with new wings.

Part of learning to fly involves remembering. Remembering the bad times right beside the good times. Hopefully we'll have enough of the good to help us get through the bad. I know it doesn't always work that way, but there's a lesson to be learned from it. To say I've had some craptastic things happen in my life is probably an understatement to those who know me. To me, it's just life. There's nothing can be changed to ever undo the past, so I try and learn as much as I can, so I can avoid another bite of the same rotten apple.

I've lost people that meant everything to me, but I've also gained people that are irreplaceable. I've learned that blood does not a family make, but the power of family never goes away. I have realized that my gut instinct is right more often that I gave it credit for, and I hope I've learned to listen to it. I know now that I am capable of anything, I just had to find the courage to try.

I'm making it a personal goal to spend the next 729 days teaching others how to fly. It's harder than I imagined, I wanted to be further into the lessons much sooner than now. But as time passed in early 2014, I realized I couldn't teach anyone something I hadn't finished learning.

Quoting my favorite book "Illusions" again, "How can you tell if your work here on Earth is done? If you're still alive, it isn't." That means I still have time. Time to teach you the lessons it took me over half a century to learn. Hopefully you'll be a better student, which will make me a better teacher. I had to learn it alone, the only teacher I had was a little paperback book that was written 30 years ago. I think that's why it took me so long.

I hope these 729 days will be enough. I'll do my best to teach you something you need to learn. Coz I know you're ready to learn.

Today was Day 1.