Well I was once a little boy and a conversation today reminded me of that fact. It is certainly true that in every life experience there are the aspects of environment, heredity, and some unknown forces that move us to be one way or the other.

If you grow up in Minnesota you learn how to build a snow fort when the snow falls wet and sticky.

And if your dad gardens you learn to use a wheelbarrow.

If you have sisters you grow up a bit different than if you have brothers.

Would I have become an Eagle Scout without my father’s support and encouragement?

I didn’t become what my dad wanted me to become, an accountant or a salesman, as I was not suited to those careers. I suggest people follow their passion in life. It is the most certain path to success. Success being self-fulfillment and satisfaction.

My dad passed away now four years ago. I continue to marvel at his tenacity, commitment, sacrifice and intrinsic morality and ethics.

I liked to lay on the ground in the summer and watch the clouds go by. Some neighbor commented that I seemed lazy, but it is really important to lay down and watch the clouds go by sometimes.

So you grow up and you have experiences. If you are fortunate you have many adventures and if you are fortunate you always remember that you have a special essence within you. You realize you are unique and your path through life is yours to create.

Maybe the best thing to do is to do the best you can with the talents and strengths you have. As the great thinkers have always said “know yourself”.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Time for massive maintenance here at home. The rain falls the sun shines, and suddenly there is hay in the orchard, hay four foot tall. My neighbor, from years ago, farmed hay, and farming hay takes special tools. Over the weekend I have used eight gallons of gas in the mower. I have weed wacked, blown, lopered, and chain sawed all in an effort to keep nature from making all but the tallest structures disappear. I wonder how long it would take for nature to reclaim where I live? It seems like they are all the time digging up lost cities covered in dirt, covered deeply in dirt. I wonder, how did that happen?

The garden beds got weeded and mostly planted on Memorial Day. I thought about my dad and how I learned the idea of gardening from him. He enjoyed a good harvest, you could see it in his energy and posture. I was a kid who preferred playing and don’t remember how much gardening I learned from my dad. I know I learned to bury fish guts in the ground below the tomato plant. I know I learned to love gardening.

The state of the vegetable garden this spring, seems like procrastination on my part. The good weather alters my perception of time. Some part of my brain reasons that so much good weather has come our way in Olympia recently, that we must be well into summer. Of course we’re not and there is time to do everything that must be done.

Our New Year celebration is a quiet one with a few friends. We meet at Marion’s house to eat and share. One tradition is to draw a card from a deck of Osho Zen Tarot cards. This year we drew a card representing 2011 and one for 2012.

Here is the commentary written about the card I drew for 2012 called Maturity (needless to say this card does excite me about this year). “This figure stands alone, silent and yet alert. The inner being is filled with flowers–that carry the quality of springtime and regenerate wherever he goes. This inner flowering and the wholeness that he feels affords the possibility of unlimited movement. He can move in any direction–within and without it makes no difference as his joy and and maturity cannot be diminished by externals. He has come to a time of centeredness and expansiveness–the white glow around the figure is his protection and his light. All of life’s experiences have brought him to this time of perfection. When you draw this card, know well this moment carries a gift–for hard work well done. Your base is solid now and success and good fortune are yours for they are the outcome of what has already been experienced within.”

The group wanted me to draw another card and I did. Before I drew I decided to draw for the benefit of the group; that is, what the group as a whole might contemplate. There are 79 cards in this deck and my card had been shuffled back into the cards lying face down on the table. I picked the same card again.

The card for 2011 was very accurate titled “Go With The Flow”. That certainly represented last year very well.