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I punched my ticket and walked through the turnstile, anticipating the short-term future.

Mind:

Orange juice, coffee, research, updating resume, LinkedIn, phone calls, email, lunch dates, more research, Harvard Business Review, Twitter, more email, Facebook, more research, calendar, more coffee.

Body:

Water, lacing up the running shoes, reacquainting myself with my home gym, barbells, biceps, triceps, dumbbells, cadence on the pavement, more water, Stairmaster, treadmill, boom box at 11, mirrors, lats, curls, quads, Denise Austin, jump rope, kick boxing, more water, shoulders, back, hams, chest, pushups, slow reps, burn baby burn.

Soul:

Christine, Chloe, leisure reading, dance class, DVD burning, no commuter rail, Christmas movies, dinner at 5, music downloads, school taxi, grocery shopping, laundry, more Christine and Chloe, wide-tooth grinning, listening to the wind, sunrises, sunsets, cornfields, sports on TV, fine wine, photo-editing, personal tech support, pottery lessons, bathtub caulking, constant laughter.

Not quite sure of the encore, but I know it will be good.

 
I'll catch up with you later...

I graduated from Saugerties High School on June 25, 1978.

My dad, a minister, gave the benediction that sent more than 200 seniors on their way to college or the working world.

Here it is:

Our loving Heavenly Father:

We thank you for our sons and daughters, and for this day in which to celebrate their achievement.

We thank you for our public school system and for its faithful administrators and teachers, and pray that you will give them continued strength and courage.

We pray that our young people on the threshold of adult opportunity may not confuse success with fame and wealth, but may know that success lies in pleasing you and finding their productive places in society.

Help them in all their ways to acknowledge you and to realize your promise to direct their paths.

And so, may the Lord bless and protect you; may the Lord's face radiate with joy because of you; may he be gracious to you, show you his favor and give you his peace.

Amen.

He had only been given white and gray to paint with for some time now, and recently had been asked to paint with black.

The canvas was locked into place by rules and regulations, decisions by committee, a palette blended with white, gray and black, under the umbrella of scientific governance.

Free-form expression needed to be validated.

He was given green, but green could not be part of the palette. He could use green for other things, but the paintings could only be white, gray and black.

The artist's daily output resembled white-bread sandwiches, bowls of freezer-burnt vanilla ice cream, white rice, powdered milk, ominous skies, dark faces and cold-steel machinery.

And the sales for his paintings started to dwindle.

But instead of adding primary hues of blue, yellow and red, which needed to be validated and verified by committee, he was given more black.

The artist's paintings became starkly dark, almost to the point that no one could decipher the picture.

Because the artist's paintings weren't selling, he was asked to use a smaller canvas and smaller brushes. His images became smaller, and the darkness of his paintings was even that more profound.

Then one day, in the magic of a few minutes, he changed direction.

The skies darkened one final time and a cleansing rainstorm opened up creative beginnings and new hope followed by a glorious sunrise.

The artist's canvas was large — more expansive than he had ever seen — and his palette was filled with dozens of colors.

The artist poured a cup of coffee, took a deep breath, and started a new painting.

The first color he reached for was blue, as he was inspired by the sky.

His decision.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

— Henry David Thoreau, Writer