Thursday, June 4, 2009

Memories and Full Lives



Tomorrow is my birthday and I celebrated it early today.

First, I finished my current book, "Paul Newman, a Life" by Shawn Levy.  Being a big Paul Newman fan (for several reasons), this was a welcome read.  It went behind the movies, races, food products, etc. and looked at his complete life.  While I bear no likeness or degree of talent, I have been drawn to him since college.  I like movies.  He made great movies and many are my favorites.  I like car racing.  He has won championships and owned great race teams.  I respect people who give because they want to and not to be noticed.  I was influenced by him early on to not worry about power, or powerful people.  He showed that you could be yourself no matter what.  The book gives a good insight into what made him tick.  I was also surprised that his oldest son died exactly a year to the day before my daughter died.  A  dispute with the New York Post led him to make the movie, "Absence of Malice".  When I had my dispute with the local paper, I reminded them of this very movie.  

This is a good read.

Second, tonight I went to see the Doobie Brothers concert.  These guys started out in the early 70's (same as me)  and are still performing at a fantastic level.  A lesson for me.

Both Paul and the Doobies remind me of my favorite Jimmy Buffet song title,  "I'm growing older but not up!"

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