Always on My Mind

Chuck Noland Stood Here
And
So Did I

This has been a great week.  I feel energized by the endless possibilities that await.  All of you know that since I started this journey, I accepted the responsibilities of just letting go.  After being sidelined by self-doubt and anger over my plight, I am excited about what awaits me.


My business calendar and my personal calendar are beginning to fill up.  In the next several weeks and months, I will be in San Jose, CA, the Bershires of CT, Honk Kong and Shanghai, Florida ( to spend time with my parents), and El Salvador.  For the first time, I will unashamedly combine both business with pleasure.  This is the type of journey and life that I dreamed of as a child but I forgot about as an adult.


Last night, I watched Castaway again in the media room.  I thought about Chuck Noland's battles with time as a FedEx employee and then as the lone survivor stranded on an island, isolated from everyone.    There he realized that he could not control anything not even his own death.  The movie packed with meaning and disappointments, ends where it originally started, at the cross roads somewhere in the Texas Panhandle (Canadian, Tx.)   He delivers the package that fostered the idea of his escape.  He writes a simple note and attaches it to the package.  It reads:  "this package saved my life."

Al & Chuck Were Here

Chuck delivers his package on his quest to find what he wants to do with the time he has left to live.  We see him again at the crossroads looking at his map.  I've been to that exact location where Chuck Noland stood.  I had to.  I desperately wanted to find the person I had lost and was frightened of becoming.  I was looking for direction and at that crossroad, I got a further glimpse of me.  A stranger drove up in a pickup truck (Lari Smith) and met Chuck.  Chuck found out why he was there.  The movie ends with a smile in Chucks eyes, the music plays that heart wrenching tune of a distant trumpet.


It was important for me to lose my job.  It was important for me to find the crossroads and to stand there.  My life has plenty of meaning.  There will be time to work and I will continue to have my comfortable existence.  I may not know exactly where I am going, but I have a pretty good idea.  I am not afraid any more.  Life is not clear, we get to crossroads and make decisions.  Don't be afraid of the crossroads.  Find them.  The answers will come.


Hey, I've got some Willie Nelson on my mind....."On The Road Again...."