I recently took time from my busy day-to-day schedule to be quiet and think about how blessed I have been over the nearly 74 years of my existence.
No, it was not all sweetness and light.
Nonetheless, I can't deny my life has been filled with rich and meaningful experiences that exceeded my wildest dreams.
For this I am truly grateful.
If you are anything like me, chances are you spent the early years of life believing that what you, your family and closest friends did was what everyone did.
I grew up in a working class family in a working class section of Philadelphia.
I went to the same elementary school, attended the same church and shopped at the same stores as my parents did when they were young.
In that way my community, one where people cared for and helped their neighbors, was much like a small town rather than part of a big city.
Besides people knowing most everyone's name and where they lived, we learned to know about each individual.
There was a friendliness, a trust and security resulting from this kind of closeness.
During WWII, we all shared in the loss of young men who gave their lives for their country, and we celebrated when those who survived came home to be part of the community once more.
But many of these young veterans moved from the neighborhood as they married or found work elsewhere.
Somehow the war changed everything.
Or, was it that I was getting older; and, therefore, my perspective was changing? As my world expanded geographically so did my philosophy on life, limited though my experiences and reasoning processes were at the time.
By high school, I had developed a taste for fun.
Fun at all costs.
It's hard to say whether this was an escape from reality or the expansion of my social nature.
But it certainly drove me and made those years fly by.
Going away to college was the next step in expanding my horizons.
The good times rolled there as well, but I had serious thoughts about a career and hit the books pretty hard, almost as hard as I partied.
Then it was off to the bright lights of New York and the ad agency business, where the fun continued.
After moving to the west coast and starting my own business, I learned there was more to life than fun.
The responsibilities of meeting payrolls, raising a family and being part of the community sunk in.
It took far too many years for me to understand that the world did not revolve around me nor was it there for my personal pleasure, but I finally got the message.
My role was simple: be of service to all those with whom I came in contact.
By doing this the rest of life took care of itself without my having to micro-manage it.
Even in retirement, this is a joke because I seem to be more active than ever before; my commitment is to be of service.
That's what caused me to start the New Seniors site and be the voice to and for those 65+.
My goal is to get New Seniors involved so, in turn, they will be of service to others.
Maybe this is something that might be of interest to you.
Reflect on it.
If you want to learn more log on to http://www.
NewSeniors.
com