About The Promises We Make

The weight of a promise is never uniform for individuals because some of us wear them like the yoke of a plow and others like a feather in our hair.

This I know from personal experience and some of you can attest to my willingness or unwillingness to move heaven and earth to make things happen.

Some have asked me to explain how I make these decisions and I have shrugged my shoulders and said madness is as madness does knowing full well it is not a satisfactory answer.

But that is the beauty of people, we are not logical or rational beings.

Emotion and flight of fancy fuel our fires and move us to or to not take action.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken- Robert Frost

I have agonized over the path I didn’t take and questioned whether doing so made me a fool or a sage.

Under moonless nights I have paced for hours in deep contemplation of and about it never coming to a satisfactory conclusion about what I should have done.

Sometimes I found respite in a moment and sometimes in something else but always there was this nagging sense that I had more to do and the journey was where I would find the answers I needed.

About The Promises We Make

In less than two weeks a young master shall take his first solo plane ride to come stay with me.

When he does we’ll talk about the promises we make and the road not taken.

If things come close to going as I hope he’ll let me make like John Henry and pound one hell of a tunnel through a wall and follow me out the other side.

Or maybe he’ll spot the bonfires I have lit and see the rockets I have fired across the night sky..

Can’t say, don’t know and am doing my best not set my expectations too high because there is disappointment and heartbreak involved in that.

That is not to say I can’t handle either because I have and I can. I have been fed both by the spoonful and the shovel.

They aren’t the tastiest of treats but if you are given enough you figure out how to manage them.

But I am prepared for it all because it is tied into the sort of promise I won’t back down from or break.

That is noteworthy because not all merit such attention and trust.

We can fall, but we can’t fail, not this one.

Kill The Cold

I don’t about you but one of the things I most dislike about being sick is not feeling “sharp.”

I am usually fast on my feet and pretty good at coming up with snappy, if not always funny responses…except when I have a killer cold.

Speaking of killer colds this one began sneaking up on me last week in Jacksonville and though I managed to hold it off for a while it eventually caught up with me.

Hell, the sucker took a baseball bat to my head and body and for a while I was pretty miserable.

Was desperate for sleep but couldn’t grab more than a couple of moments here and there and found myself in the very bad position of having to work.

I cannot confirm nor deny that a couple of conversations were…awkward.

Music Break

Who Wants to Live Forever– Queen
Don’t You (Forget About Me)– Simple Minds
God’s Gonna Cut You Down– Johnny Cash
Closer– Nine Inch Nails
I am… I said– Neil Diamond
Phantom Of The Opera– Phantom
Seasons Of Love– Rent
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You– Led Zeppelin
The Bionic Woman Theme

Drowning In A Whiskey River

So we move out of our music break with Willie singing Whiskey River in the background and ancient memories of being a kid watching Smokey and the Bandit.

Somewhere in between when I started writing this post and now something changed and I feel distinctly better.

It is almost like someone flipped a light switch and the world looks a lot nicer than it did not so long ago.

That is a very good thing because there is a significant amount of pressure upon me and I have to find a way to make things happen.

Guess I ought to sign off and get some rest because tomorrow we cross the Rubicon and there is no going back.

It is kind of exciting and scary but that is life. Time to push hard and prepare for the young master and the chance to do great things.

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By Joshua Wilner

Hi, I am Josh Wilner and I am happy that you have decided to visit my corner of cyberspace. I am a writer/marketer/friend and family man. My professional background includes more than twenty years in working with businesses to help them do a better job of connecting with their existing and prospective customers. More specifically I have worked with companies of all sizes from the Fortune 500 to the new start up to help them build, develop and grow their social media and marketing plans. I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy music, reading, writing, playing sports and laughing.

4 comments

  1. I almost never make promises because I can’t always control my situation well enough to keep them. However, whenever I do make a promise I keep it. Actually, whenever I make an appointment I also keep it, as I’ve only missed one appointment in the last 16 1/2 years, and that was because of a family thing. So… I guess I make promises that I don’t call promises; now that’s something to think about. lol

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua Wilner says:

      Hi Mitch,

      Good to see you here.

      I can relate to not making promises for the same reason you listed. I am tough to pin down in part because I hate the idea of not being able to follow through.

      Doesn’t happen very often at all, but if it does it makes me crazy.

      Reply

  2. I know what you mean about not feeling sharp when you are sick. I feel sluggish. Uggh.
    Good writing when talking about your son coming to visit you. Sharp!

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Joshua Wilner says:

      Thank you sir, I appreciate that.

      Reply

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