It's a Wonderful Life

The weirdest thing happens to me tomorrow, Saturday. I turn 46 years old. That means that I'm now closer to 50 than 40 and something just isn't right about that.

Just yesterday, it seems, I was:

6 years old in Chattanooga, TN with my mom, dad, brother, sister and a dog living it up riding my bike around the street we lived on. It was a big street to me, probably had 10 homes on it, and started on a big hill and circled around. Great for bike riding.

16 years old living in Memphis, TN. Mom and dad had just given me their old 1968 Buick LeSabre. It was brown, 4 door, had a giant 454 cubic inch V8 and I loved it. I loved it no matter what color, etc. because it had a big, big motor. Alas, that didn't last long as after school a few weeks later my dad showed up in a 1977 Chevy Chevette Scooter. That little car had a 4 cylinder, 1.4 litre, one barrel carb. It took a while to get it up to speed while driving but I ended up loving that little car.

26 years old living in Houston, TX. I was single, working at Transco Energy Company in Human Resources. We had the coolest building in Houston called the Transco Tower. It was 64 stories tall with a big beacon light on top that circled like an airport beacon. Unfortunately, I was on the 6th floor. I was given the task to work with the first ever PC (IBM model) in the HR department, trying to figure out just what in the world we could do with it. Personally I had finally returned to a church, Second Baptist, and was beginning to get my act together both professionally and spiritually. It was a good time of fun, growth, friends and discovery.

36 years old, still in Houston, single and working for IBM as an SAP HR Consultant. I was traveling each Sunday out to client sites and returning on Friday afternoons. It was great, traveled mostly to the east coast, DC, Pittsburg, Virginia Beach, etc. helping customers review and decide to buy the SAP product from IBM. I was starting to get a little tired of travel and soon took an internal HR job for IBM. Houston was great, Second Baptist was OK but I was getting restless for new challenges in my life. That would come the following year with a transfer to Atlanta, GA.

Today I'm in Woodstock, GA, married to the most beautiful woman, my best friend and perfect mate, still working for IBM and loving life. I'm not sure where the time has gone but man, was that time fun.

I can't wait for the next update at 56 years. God is most certainly good.