Looking back on Journal Volume 49 and 2023

As most regular readers know, this blog was established nine years ago as largely an extension of the Personal Daily Journal of Yours Truly. It has become a tradition during this, the last few hours of the calendar year to reflect on the twelve months gone by and recall fondly or not-so-much as the case may be, events and happenings which were observed, experienced and duly noted via the keyboard which has become a busy extension of my own pen. As I sit here and ponder my practice of record keeping in the form of a daily journal, I feel a sense of redemption for articulating in print an account of the boring routine and mundane day-to-day habits of a retired 60-something who, for all intents and purposes, has become the Samuel Pepys of the Mother Road. Certain similarities aside, it is fair to say that Yours Truly has been in the practice of journal writing a damned sight longer than was Mr. Pepys as he only recorded a ten-year period between January 1660 through the end of year 1669. As you might imagine, I am busy finishing the last few entries of Volume 49 of my own first-person account of my own human experience of the year 2023 CE. If ever there should be a competition for best most polished and well-kept written record of observations, opinions, events and the repetitive daily motions of the quiet boring life of a retiree then mine certainly would be in the running for the Blue Ribbon. If not the best written, then perhaps at the very least it would rate top candidacy for the longevity award.

Looking back on the year gone by, my purpose for living was actually elevated by embracing the fact I possess little if any power to influence world, national, state and community events. Accepting that all those in charge or who had the wherewithal to influence those things, good or bad, and knowing that they were going to do what they were going to do regardless of what anyone thought or did about it was for me an empowering realization. That said, I saw this as definitely another time of leveling up and self-improvement by forging new and lasting relationships at all levels through service and outreach. Indeed, the first half of year 2023 CE served as the remainder of my proverbial fifteen minutes of fame in the leadership spotlight. It remains a mystery not only to my mind but likely that of many others as to why a group of wonderful Rotarians would want Yours Truly, a long-haired formerly skinny-well-fed practicing Dudeist, to be the president of Will Rogers Rotary. Some very good things came to pass during my tenure at the helm of that organization, not the least of which was our club’s official partnership with the Tulsa Route 66 Alliance. After a sometimes strained but overall successful year as Club President, that run of leading the way officially ended on the evening of July 11th. It was at our “Change of Horses” ceremony on that evening that I was truly humbled at being awarded the Club Leadership Award for my year of service.

The very next Sunday after turning over the reins of leadership to our new Club President, I departed on a 14-day, 12-state, 5565-mile road trip. This western state odyssey included places I had been to previously and some I had not. The first-time places I had never been before included Lusk, WY, Dickinson, ND, Missoula, MT, Cour d’ Alene, ID, Port Angeles, WA and Springfield, OR. There were several places I had been to previously like Cheyenne, WY, Seattle, WA, Bremerton, WA, Hanford, CA, San Diego, CA and Aztec, NM, but going and seeing places I deprived myself of the experience of going to for years on end made all the driving worthwhile. It wasn’t just the places I went; it was the people I saw and visited along the way. Long time friends and extended family members justified every stop. As an old love interest stated to me during our dinner visit, “I would rather you come see me now like this than view me at my funeral.” That profound and touching statement drove home the cold harsh reality that this life and all things in it, persons and material assets, are all just temporary. Sometimes such sobering reminders are just what we need. About that lengthy drive to places known and unknown, it is a trip I intend to make again in the not-too-distant future. I will include seeing all those friends and family I visited this year and even some others I didn’t.

Entertainment offerings along this stretch of The Mother Road retained its world class sparkle. From touring The Church Studio to taking in live music at any one of a number of Tulsa water holes to attending live concerts by performers and groups from my youth at ultramodern venues, to catching first run films at Circle Cinema, there was plenty to see and hear in 2023. On March 31st, my high school best friend and I ascended to the nosebleed seats of the BOK Center for the latest lineups of groups Toto and Journey. Amazingly, they could still rock the house. On June 2nd, a friend and I were able to enjoy that group from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, The Guess Who performed a set of their timeless hits at the Osage Skyline Event Center. And of course, the 50-year-old group Kansas rocked the Tulsa Theater on November 17th. I don’t know what the lineup of groups in concert will be in the New Year will be, but if all the chart toppers of my youth care to come and play, I will do my best to see as many of them in person as is possible.

If any individual be they family member, friend, acquaintance, public figure or stranger with whom I have only one interaction is ever mentioned in the Personal Daily Journal of Yours Truly, rest assured that my contact with them left an impression on me that was noteworthy enough to be written about. Each mention of a person qualifies as a relationship to some degree even if I only saw and spoke to them once regardless of what the verbal or non-verbal transaction may have concerned. This practice is probably the most useful tool which aided me greatly in arriving at the inner realization that this life is about relationships. It has been said by some who have been mentioned therein and who have had old entries shared with them that in terms of who did what, where, when and with whom that it is all very credible. I however assume full accountability for any valence be it positive or negative of interjected opinion regarding those who may have been mentioned as well as their actions, inactions and consequences thereof. Indeed, there have been times I have had to refer to entries in my PDJ when clarifying previous business dealings. Once it was even used for my own reference in testifying as a witness for a respondent in a civil suit. As it turned out, my testimony from my journal debunked a plaintiff’s story because I saw him doing something somewhere at a given time after he had testified under oath to being elsewhere at the time in question. It is truly amazing how well writing down basic descriptions of your day can help your memory years later.

As the hours of year 2023 ebb away, I cannot help but recall all those whose life’s journey ended this year. The Grim Reaper has sure continued having a field day in the celebrity ranks. So many wonderful people who made their mark defining our life and times and seemed to be permanent cultural fixtures and now all discussed in the past tense. That grim harvest did not stop at the celebrity’s lounge. Persons I knew or relatives of persons I know have gone away in numbers that topped last year’s list, a roll call roster that only seems to be increasing with each passing year. I recall half a lifetime ago attending a seminar on investing and saving for retirement. A rough statistic was thrown out by the presenter that planted itself in my mind: 35% of any given high school class will not survive to age 65. I don’t know if that holds up factually about my class, but we seem to have hit that point on the timeline of life where people are now leaving us in significant numbers. Those of us in the Class of ’77 are knocking on the door. All I know is that I am still with it and will continue the practice of recording in print the pertinent events and happenings that matter in my life and provide my views as a sideline observer of the times in which I am living in my Personal Daily Journal.

Thank you for reading.