Looking Back And Wondering...................

I was talking to a friend of mine last night who has gone on many trips with me in the past. We were reminiscing about the first time we went down to Miami.

It was actually a bit of a downer to realize how fast time flies and how you can get caught up working and working and working.........And then one day, you wake up and it's 11 years later and you wonder what happened to the time.

I remember that first trip to Miami like it was yesterday....... Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Bal Harbour, touring Vizcaya, watching the Flamenco dancers down on Ocean Drive in South Beach and being completely stunned by the beauty of the women. Not to mention the palm trees, the sand, the blue water, the good restaurants, cafe con leche, the tastiest cigars, the martinis that were the coldest ever made, the ice cold Coronas with lime on the patio before and after going out on the town, the smell of coconut suntan lotion, walking to the little market on a "beer run", waking up and sipping hot coffee on the patio and enjoying watching the palm trees overhead blow in the sea breeze, mocking birds chirping and squawking in the palms..........

God, everything about the place was so amazing to my "midwestern" eyes. I had been to Florida before...Daytona, Lauderdale, Key West, Hollywood, Clearwater. But, none of those places were anything at all like Miami.

As we packed our bags and prepared to head off to Miami International for our flights home, some of our most frequently uttered statements were things like......"Why didn't we go to college down here?" and "We've got to move down here dude!" and "When I get home I'm getting my resume printed up and getting down here."

I remember sitting in the airport sipping on my last cafe con leche, listening to the announcements in Spanish over the P.A. system and being depressed that I was leaving. It was that feeling that you had as a young kid when you went to visit your grandparents or your cousins for a week and had a great time. And now it was over and you had to leave these special people, this special place behind.

Well, here I am 11 years later and quite frankly, not a whole lot has changed. I still get up and go to, basically, the same job I had back then. I still live up north where the snow falls and the winters seem never ending.

I guess the gist of this post is to motivate anyone that reads this to do what is in your heart, go where you want to go, live where you want to live. Don't hesitate because life really does move fast. One day, you're on spring break with all of your pals at the beach. Then next day, you're 20 years older and thinking about all of the decisions that have brought you to where you are today.

So, by god, if you feel excited about something, don't be afraid to pursue it! Don't sit around being indecisive and talking yourself in circles weighing the pros and cons. You will find that you can accidentally spend a lifetime wondering, "should I? or shouldn't I?"

Take some friendly advice from me and

JUST DO IT!!!!

You will be so glad later in life when you can look back and be happy that you took your life by the horns and lived it well.