Welcome to the Machine, Our Last Days in our Transitional Space, I used to be a Dolt, Mentoring Those that Seek Wisdom

"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each."
— Plato

Well, here I am, stuck in the middle again, sitting in my purple bean bag at our downtown Denver condominium for our last hurrah. We took PVHT to Melissas yesterday; she will watch him until we return; we had a lovely snowstorm yesterday, so we decided to play it safe and head to town.

I ran a 1:00 pm call in the car, then headed to get lunch run some errands before arriving at the condo. We worked here until 5:00 and left to meet our friends Joshua and Donna out for dinner. We had some great drinks, food, and conversation. We were home by 8:00 and asleep by 9:00. I've woken up to a beautiful cough, cheers to the flim, and flam.

We have made a significant decision about our mountain house. When we sell the condo, we will have all the furniture from the condo to move to our home. Our daughter purchased a nice large sectional, and we now think it is time to move on from our hippy bean bags. One of our friend's sons is getting his first place; we have a couch and four bean bags we will donate to him; the mountain house is in for an upgrade.

We will work from here today; we have reservations tonight at a new restaurant our daughter found for us. We will work here again tomorrow; we will meet my friend Barrett to catch up and then stay at the Westin airport hotel tomorrow before flying out to Mexico on Friday morning.

Well, the damn varmint saw his shadow, six more weeks of raising prices, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. Six more weeks of winter, six more weeks of people wanting to limit free speech; that is the times we live in, welcome to the machine.

I was a college freshman; in my second quarter, I had English 104; Mrs. Hunt was our professor. I was asked to pen an analysis of a poem; I chose Pink Floyds, "welcome to the machine." Although I invested a lot of time using my logic and curiosity to figure out what the song was about, that assignment changed my life.

Until that time, I thought of myself as a dolt, a young man with little sense, fooling the rest of the world with my humor and flying under the radar. I did not perceive myself as intelligent; I was a stoner, just doing enough to score that passing grade. But that project sparked my mind; it caused me to reach as I had never gone before; it caused a shift in how I thought about myself and that I might indeed be able to add value to our world.

On the last day of class, Mrs. Hunt asked me to stick around; she shared that in her mind, I was the most intelligent person in her class. But I was trying to cover up my intelligence by being a dumb ass; she said, "stop being a dumb ass and begin giving something to society."  I never got any grade less than a B from that moment on. I finished my college career with an undergraduate degree and achieved a master's degree. Mrs. Hunt changed my life, and I know that I too can change the lives of young men and women by sharing encouragement and advice to those who seek wise counsel.

I mentioned my 1:00 pm call yesterday; I spent an hour with young Jonathan. I met him when I moved to Denver; he was 22; he now lives in New York and has taken a big boy job; he is planning his young life and wanted to talk about his new gig and pick my brain about a life business plan. At 26, he is seeking out the wisdom of those who have preceded him in life, picking up clues about how to achieve success.

As a young man, I, too, sought out mentors' advice from those I deemed successful. I had many a lunch with clients, owners of companies, wise folks that I looked up to, and when asked about lunch, no one ever said no; successful people want to give of their mind to others. If you have a young child, encourage them at any age to seek out the wisdom and kindness of people that have done well in life.

A special note to the Conaster family from Beautiful Parker City, Jeff and his wife and two kids moved in next to my parents a few years ago. They made the home a showplace; they helped mom and dad do things around their house. Unfortunately, Jeff lost his life after spending a few weeks in the hospital. He was a great father, husband, member of our community; if you don't mind, say a little prayer for the family and community as their grieve the loss of their fantastic contributor to society. RIP, my friend.

We were reminiscing about our condominium, how it helped us launch our western life, we bought it in October of 2016, a lot has changed since then, it was a lovely home, a transitional space that we have many memories from, but it's time to let it go. So I'll work with my friend to test the market, I do have a cash buyer, but I will maximize this investment, time to rake some money off our treasure table.

I hope your life is full of curiosity and wonder. I hope you have a plan to live your best life; I hope your mental health and physical health are providing you with a firm foundation for wise thoughts and decisions. Be loyal, be kind, be good to those that have helped you find your way; the future will enrich those with good hearts and destroy those who lie, manipulate, and take advantage of the goodness and guidance of the once considered dolts.

"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each."
— Plato