Reflection 2023

Looking back on the past year with excitement and consternation. I am blessed and fortunate nevertheless.  

Rainy Day Janie (2024 Edition). Last year I overwhelmed her with a laundry list of lovable traits. I couldn’t help myself since we reconnected in a genuine way (nearly fifty years after our first date – a hay ride). I said that I love rainy-day Janie and the one that smiles in the sunshine. That’s still true. The nature of my attraction to her remains inexplicable. She remains a puzzle I cannot quite solve. But still it seems worth trying.The hometown girl went to college at Case Western Reserve University. She had a laser focus on a nursing career. I always had the idea that I could follow my father’s footsteps and pursue a career that could be found somewhere where Art meets Commerce.

The road less traveled by - Meanwhile my charmed life paid dividends at the University of Miami. Her path and mine diverged, in spite of what seemed a natural bond.   

Bing. Meanwhile, my wife-to-be played it perfectly. She was there for me at a critical turning point in my life. Before her untimely passing almost two years ago we shared our lives together for 41 years. Memory of her reminds me of just how important NOW can be. I was determined to prove myself a genuine advertising man. Armed with an MBA in 1982. No regrets. My choices were mostly joyful and include the arrival of wonderful children and there children (a girl and a boy and grandsons from each). 

 

Upon reflection. I feel optimism and good fortune in spite of sadness.

My life is episodic. And that recognition firms my resolve to stay focused on the moment. In so doing, the moments are fantastic. Music. Art. Friends. Learners. There is a sense of urgency in wonderful, ordinary, joyful things.

Captions:

The Saint Louis Basilica at the Christmas Eve Vigil on December 24, 2023

Holiday Card features me, lost in the field of sunflowers, my kids and the matriarch, spouces and grandchildren. (6 1/2  and 7 years)

At Blue Strawberry the incomparable Kat Edmonson

Dave Shogren and various bandmates from Mudd Brothers to Benbow City Shuffle (BCS)

Troy, Illionois Red Door Cottage before candle-making with teachers Julie, Kathy, Kelly and significant others. 

Dave Cox in his Hillboro, MO kitchen (Danielle and Adam are engaged)

My Episodic Life - Five Days in December

 

 

It is so important to greet adversity and challenge with calm. You just have to be in the moment. Problems are a part of life. Recognize the reality that there will be ups and downs. This week, somehow, God (or certainly some higher power) has been blessing me through a series of occasions and events that might have otherwise caused me to dive into a kind of despair.

In the past five days:

Tuesday (12-5) – I was privileged to be invited to participate in the UMSL Marketing Club speed networking event at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis.  It was so great to offer advice and counsel to college students considering the future. The dialogues with up to 30 students had the side effect of causing me to reflect on so many of my career highlights along my personal journey. I lingered a while because the energy and enthusiasm and the positive reflection was an unexpected high. (UP)

BUT I got home, only to realize that I misplaced my cell phone. This is a thing that can result in a kind of panic. (DOWN)  By 8:30 p.m. an email: Did you leave your cell phone at the Marketing Club event? I respond: Yes I did. (UP)

Wednesday (12-6) – Rebecca Bechtel (MBA student and Dr. Perry Drake’s trusted assistant) and her brother met me at Sugarfire BBQ for dinner and I was reunited with my cell phone after a healthy 24 hours without it. (UP)

Thursday (12-7) – I was excited about an American Marketing Association holiday gathering and networking event at Global Brew scheduled for 5:30 p.m. But on the treacherous I-70 heading West after work I experienced the trauma of a flat tire. (DOWN).

I managed to hobble off I-70 onto Lucas and Hunt exit into the QT. I opened my trunk and began the process of changing to my spare when a stranger offered to change the tire for a small fee. (UP)

Now I was sure I needed to make plans to replace that tire. I took I-170 to Olive Boulevard Dobbs Tire & Auto hoping to make an appointment to get two new rear tires. (They told me 6 months ago I should replace those two back tires.) I expected bureaucracy at the counter late in the day, as it was, on a Thursday. But, to the contrary, they were happy so sell me two new tires and put the spare back into the trunk right away. I was hardly inconvenienced and I was still on time for the event at Global Brew on Manchester Road in Rock Hill. (UP)

Friday (12-8) - My friend professor Perry Drake PhD invited me to dinner at his home in Chesterfield. Perry treated me to salmon, brockely, baked potato and Budweiser. I was able to share a pleasant meal and conversation with Perry, including a few laughs over the roller coaster events of my recent few days. (UP)

Saturday (12-10) - I visited the Saint Louis Art Museum because it has become my happy place. It did not disappoint as the Sculpture Hall was filled with people and kids enjoying performances of Dances from India and an interpretation of The Nutcracker. (UP)

Later on Saturday - It’s wonderful to have friends. My friends Dave and Linda Shogren invited me to join them for a performance at Blue Strawberry in the Central West End. The event featured Kat Edmonson’s amazing and unique song stylings from the American Songbook and some of her originals. I left with a copy of a signed CD. (UP)

If you are scoring at home: I have so many more UPs than DOWNs. Even when bad things happen I seem to have blessed life.

Even the signed CD that says “for Wesley with Love, Kat” makes me smile. And the posing cat at Dave’s house afterwards seemed to observe in judgemnent of my charmed life.