ALL THAT I HAVE LEARNED

Today I am 53 years old.

Here is all I have learned. 

First and foremost, 95% of life’s problems arise through poor communication. We don’t listen to each other. We talk over each other. Practice listening the next time you are in a business discussion or other serious matter. You will pick up a lot of useful information and you will find just letting the other person speak uninterrupted does wonders for them. 

That the music of the 60’s and 70’s is the greatest that ever was or will be.  Except for Sinatra and Springsteen. Sinatra was timeless and Bruce got better with age, as impossible as that seems. 

That Franco made a legal catch in what we call the Immaculate Reception and I love the fact that it still bothers John Madden all these years later. 

That 1979 was the best year ever to be a Pirate and Steeler fan. 

That Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech is the best possible source of inspiration and comfort to a trial lawyer. We win. We lose. But we are in the arena …

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

That Chocolate Chip cookies and Orange Juice are my (not so) secret vice. Try it. 

That I learned long ago never to draw to an inside straight, a flush with a pair on the board, or the ass end of a straight or boat. And I make tons of money off of poker players who never learned those lessons.

That Hyman Roth was right: health is the most important thing, and that your partners should always make money with you. 

That no storage unit is worth the junk you put in it. It’s an endless sinkhole of money. Avoid them at all costs. 

That I will never see a baseball player who had more passion and grace and élan than Roberto Clemente. But Cutch is pretty great to watch these days and Polanco reminds me at times of the great one. 

That while writing a book is hard, publishing it is the scariest thing I will ever do. 

That the lesson from Many Lives Many Masters was 100% correct: fear is the biggest impediment to success in life.

That while youth is wasted on the young, parents can lessen the impact of that.

That throwing a lure into calm waters and seeing a fish break on it is a thrill I will never get tired of. 

That in my mind at night I stretch that double into a triple and slide head first into third and then causally get up and dust off the dirt, just like Burt Lancaster said in Field Of Dreams.

And that the only line in a movie that ever made me cry, and always will make me cry is when Kevin Costner says “Dad, wanna have a catch?” at the end of  Field Of Dreams. And that’s a good thing. 

That I’m glad I was watching when Willie hit a home run in game seven off of Cuellar’s curveball in 79. Good things do happen to good people. Willie deserved that. 

That after all those decades of lifting weights and pounding on a spin bike, that yoga is the answer. It calms the mind and heals the body. 

That at age 53, I know one thing for sure: that the good lord blessed me beyond my wildest expectations with the two best boys any father could want. They have the greatest mother, and all I want is for us to watch them grow into men. 

I think I’ve learned a lot.

PLR.