#510 on age being a privilege, not an excuse

they say
you are who you are well before you're an adult

so things like beliefs and attitudes and physiology

harden into things less malleable

but i have a 50+ mum who took up running

(for the first time)

a 30+ brother who returned to school

(once considered hell)

and a 20+ friend who is a social acrobat

(a recluse through childhood)

so let's admit that phrases like

it's too late now

my time for that is past

maybe when i was younger

are excuses

and excuses become truth only with acceptance

so write that list

start at the top

work your way down

watch that list shrink and grow
watch that list accessorize with check-marks

as you fight excuses and turn "impossible"
     into done

#501 a pessimist's optimistic toast

take risks

break some rules

use your manners

but take no shit

good people do bad things

bad things happen to good people

the world fascinates me but

what goes around doesn't always come

inspiration is 80% perspiration

81% frustration
100% mathematical nonsense 

so believe in yourself

like a salmon jumping up a waterfall

go against the stream

for maybe just maybe

you are what is forward

and the stream has had it it all wrong all along

live laugh and love

like the gift store trinkets instruct

and remember the fourth L-word

learn

learn that as beautiful as live laugh and love sound

they are even more

learn that pain and peace are inevitable by-products of living

learn that laughing feels best at the worst times

learn that love the word is overused and empty

learn that love the verb, the action, is underused
and full of learning and pain and peace and laughter

full

learn this

and disregard some of my words

and write your own

then

then my poem will be finished