Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts? - Jesus
Things we wish we could control:
1) our emotions,
2) our kids,
3) our love life,
4) our future,
5) our weight.
Things we might be able to control:
1) our weight.
None of us want to be control freaks. None of want to be impatient, constantly competitive, uber time-conscious, stressed over achievement, Type-A, obsessive-compulsive, anal-retentive, anxiety-ridden, heart-attack candidates. None of us want that. But every one of us wants some semblance of control over our lives. We want to feel as if we have some say in how our lives go down - some fragment of power over our stint on this planet - a little time at the wheel or the rudder.
Perhaps the secrets of control are found less in manipulation and more in choice. Less in manipulating things and more in exercising options.
Maybe, rather than insistently trying to get our selves to a certain port, we would be better served by checking out the diversity of dingys as they sail through our harbor and choosing the ones with which we might want to sail. Or, in the wisdom of Calvin and Hobbes, "It's not in denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept."
Sometimes life can sail you to places far more exciting and fulfilling than anything you may have mapped for yourself.
Howard is googled-eyed these days. He has learned that sometime later this summer, he will be a GrandPapa. Daughter Windsor and her husband, Alex, kicked things into gear and from all reports, "Itty-Bitty," as she's now called, is looking good. Howard says that he remembers being freaked out when he discovered he was going to be a Papa; and he admits he's not too far from that feeling now. Windsor and Alex have (gratefully) spent their last winter in Boston and will be moving to Atlanta in June. Only 3.5 hours from Grandpapa. And he's smiling.