I recently received an email about how great things were when we were growing up. It's sweet to think about our life as children and the wonder we had at all of the holidays. One of my favorite was the company picnic where we were allowed to drink all of the Nehi pop we could drink and eat all of the chocolate covered ice cream bars and Dixie Cups we could guzzle down on a hot afternoon.  You met the people your dad worked with and hung out running through the woods or peddling swan boats.

So all of that is pretty cool but I am so much happier now. Now I don't have the old worries about finding somebody to hang out with or something interesting to do. As a kid, I used to race home to watch the indian head test pattern and listen to the music until the kid shows started. When I got a little older, I learned to dance watching American Band Stand and a local show called High Time in Portland, Or.  Now, I am happy just going to work, keeping up my house and yard, and going to martial arts several times a week.

When we were young, we all had the same experience because we had so few channels on TV.  Now I wouldn't trade HGTV, the news channels, or ESPN for just three or four channels.  It's a treat to get what you want, when you want it. Any hey! Can you imagine what we would have thought about the DVD player?  Imagine watching a movie without leaving home at any time you choose.

Best of all are the medical and scientific improvements we enjoy. I am the happy MS patient who can give credit to the scientists who have given me a life that is not limited in any way.  Do you remember the children you would see in Newberry's the other Dime Stores who had polio and the little crutches and wheel chairs? Medical science has done so much for us and promises to do even more as the puzzle of the genome is worked through.

When you come down to it, there is no point to worship the past or the future because today is all we have. There is still a lot for me to do before I retire but I look forward to each day. I have good work helping people and making a difference in their lives. My children are starting to reach out for their own futures and I have a wonderful pet dog to keep me grounded in the basics of life.

It's fun to look back but I am so happy to be here in my present moments.