I just lost one of our Golden Retrievers so I am in an introspective mood.

I love Refugio State Park.  It is gorgeous beach but that is not why I love the place.  I love the place for the memories of good times with good friends I have had there for many years.  

One of the cool things about Refugio is that there is an active rail road track just above the campground.  For years we would go up and put pennies on the track. We would come back later to find our flattened pennies.  You had to smile when you found that penny.  In a way it is a reflection of my life so far.  My life is like a Refugio flattened penny.  

So while you read the rest of this post hold that image of the flattened penny in your mind.

I find as I get older I have started to lose my youthful sense of immortality and think about my life knowing the end is closer than the start.

First to come to mind are the trials in my life.  I always think of the song “The Impression I Get” by the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones and these lyrics:

Have you ever been close to tragedy? Or been close to folks who have?
Have you ever felt the pain so powerful, so heavy you collapse?
I've never had to knock on wood, but I know someone who has.
Which makes me wonder if I could.

I have been tested many times and by all accounts failed miserably.  I have hope, for I know good friends that have been tested and responded in amazing ways.  Incredible dedication over long periods of time.  Things we think as unimaginable they view as just your daily routine. Role models for us all when we are tested again.

Second, you think how your life stacks up.  Some folks who are pessimistic ignore all of the simple, but cool, things they have encountered on their journey.  I realize, as an optimist who is easily amazed at the simplest of things, I have had a truly blessed life.

I had great parents that lived through so many “tests” that would crush most folks, yet somehow always were happy.  They taught me honor, honesty, acceptance, and to give without expectation of return.

I have a great brother and sister who are awesome and best friends and supporters.

I have an incredible wife, the light of my life. Blessed with two wonderful kids that I am so proud of.  They have been tested at an early age and have learned to overcome.  Enjoyed 40 years of having Golden Retrievers in our home.  I have a group of lifelong friends that most people would die for.  First, because they are insanely fun to be around.  Second, they would give you the shirt off their backs in a heartbeat.

The list of blessing goes on.  I have seen Italy, flown in a B 17, had the honor to be actually physically in the Lockheed’s Skunk Works, been within ten feet of a satellite while it was being built.

I have been a passenger in a biplane doing aerobatics over the Pacific Ocean, we even buzzed the Goodyear Blimp. I have driven a diesel locomotive. I have been two hundred feet up a seven hundred foot sand dune. I have seen some of the best blues players on the planet.  As a photographer hiking in the Sierra I have seen heaven on earth. 

I have lived a blessed life with lots of time still to go.  So back to that image of that flat penny.  If somebody ask me about my life I will show them that flattened penny from Refugio.  A representation of the good times in my life.  Kind of like the lyrics from Ray Willie Hubbard:

Now if somebody ever asks you
If you got any
You just smile and lick your lips
And show em that old flat penny
- Ray Willie Hubbard’s song “Train Yard”

We all have our flat pennies. Keep em’ in your pocket and take them out often  They remind us how blessed you really are.