Thoughts as I apprach 50

• It has only been 2 weeks since my world changed with the sending of an email to Gabby Roddy.  And in only 11 days I will be on stage singing and dancing.  
• I have learned many lessons over the past few weeks and my head is spinning, but I am still trying to enjoy this whirlwind experience.
• I have learned that it doesn't matter how good or bad you feel today you have no idea what you are going to feel like tomorrow.  The journey is ongoing.  And the dude abides... if that's not too cheesy.
• My favourite quote today was from Doug MacDonald.  I haven't seen him since I lost the weight and got in shape.  He said "You look fantastic.  What did you do?"  I said "I stopped drinking 2 years ago"  He said "Fuck that.  You don't look that good."  
• I don't know whether this is just me or human nature in general,  but I find that when I was younger I focused on the big events and milestones such as birthdays, parties, holidays, vacations and trips.  And those are all fantastic.  But after Andrew died I needed to learn to find the joy in small things.  Those small joys are deceivingly powerful.  Finding simple joys everywhere adds up to a joy-filled life.  This means that when the big milestones continue to come again, the overall joy can be significant and intense.  That might sound a little pie in the sky, but it is honest and accurate.  In many ways Winston saw this ahead of all of us with his profound reminder that "the bad was good and the good was grand."  He knew this ahead of all of us and that was one of his many gifts to the world.