I've been thinking a lot lately about a lot of stuff... some of it I am reminded of Lou Holtz and a book I read of his a few years back. I have posted about this before but dont feel like finding it... but here is what he said and some thoughts about it....

Per Lou Holtz, everyone needs 4 things in life:
* First, you have to have something to do. Stories of healthy individuals who die within a few years of retiring are too numerous to list. It’s also true that prisoners serving life sentences sleep for 12-14 hours a day because they have nothing in their lives that compels them to get out of bed.

I have often said that my Grandmother seems to almost immediately shut it down after she retired, and I have told my mother i expect her to get doing SOMETHING always... and I personally continue to subscribe to that even if it means just cleaning up around the house or doing some Fraternity thing...

* The second thing you have to have is someone to love. We are put on earth to love other people. Those who don’t have anyone exist without happiness.

I am fortunate to have my Mother Brother Uncle as well as In-Laws that I do love... And I certainly have my wife and kids.And I have a small circle of close friends that I hold close to my heart... 

* Third, you have to have something to believe in. I’ve always said that not believing in a god is not an option for humans. You might not believe in the Heavenly Father, as I do, but everyone has a god. It might be the quest for power or material gains; it might be a cause–environmentalism, conservationism, global socialism, or one of countless other isms, or it might be the search for peace–but everyone has a god.

What do I believe in? well... i KNOW i beleive in a few things... maybe I need to elaborate more....

* Finally, you have to have something to look forward to. In his famous book Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, made some interesting clinical observations in the midst of the horrors of Auschwitz. Dr. Frankl noticed that prisoners who had nothing to live for and nothing to look forward to died quickly of starvation, fatigue, or abuse at the hands of their captors. But those who survived shared one thing in common: They all had something to look forward to. Often the survivors lived for the thought of rejoining a relative, or escaping to another country. Sometimes they hung on in the hopes of exacting revenge on the Nazis. But whatever the reason, those who survived the greatest atrocity in history were those who had something to look forward to.

I look forward to the next event... be it the twins Birthdays, whatever is going to happen for us for Christmas... New Years Eve... the twins trip to Gatlinburg... i continue to be constantly planning...