Day dreaming through a cemetery on 46th and absently wandering my way through midday traffic. A meeting in the Deep South and a trip to Alabama twenty years ago. Forget the man you used to be. Walk away from that identity. Business suits have no place in this present and Santa Claus probably won’t leave you anything under the tree. Scrabble. Babble. Circumcised. You are your father’s son and a baker’s wife if you can count to thirteen. Donuts and bottles of bourbon and a thousand sailors songs about coming home. Try to follow along and you’ll likely get lost because there is no rhyme or reason to the manner in which things fall to the page. Errors. Erroneous. Existentialism. A fraudulent newspaper and a dozen dried up Bic pens line empty shoe boxes left out for the mailman and a dog biscuit in case the neighbors get hungry. The giant box truck in the driveway replaces the rotted out RV, but it lacks the black lights and the ambiance of whatever college party you can remember the most. I can remember riding up and over Lyndale and through the woods near Cable. Sometimes I wonder if the mistakes I made are forgivable and if, in some strange world of make-believe, I’d ever get a second chance. I doubt it. I really doubt it, but if it happened I’d be sure to not screw it up...after all, the moose in the front yard was worth every second.
Remember? The second of November? I only know it as a calendar date and as a piece that rhymes. That’s twice I’ve used that word.
Forget. Forgive.
Live in the moment and stand over your feet. Undo your achievements and give more than you take. Squander not opportunities to become a better version of yourself.
Reflect. Meditate. Burn that stick of incense because it’s routine and it calms you down and it reminds you that there is so much good in the world. Positive affirmations. Speak them. Incorporate the language into your everyday life and see the changes it affects. Smile. Compliment. Give.
Become your own brand and market it for good. You have the skillset of a leader, don’t piss that away on selfishness and ego.
Sleep.