Yikes! It's been how long?

Putting the nation back into procrastination, I have a tendency to raise the term to a state of mind. I cannot decide if I am waiting for something really big to happen or the little things really just entertain me that much.

I really have been enjoying our new(ish) baby girl, Portia. She will be celebrating her first birthday in a couple of weeks. Yesterday we watched as she got her second big "acting" break, as a baby in a church parody of the Etrade babies. I wonder if she'll remember any of this on her own later in life. I personally do not have much recollection of the first several years of my life. My long term memory seems pretty mushy until I started marking time with the passage school grades.

Since I no longer go to school, I have had to find other ways of marking time and memories. As a single guy, I used my job or where I was living. Now, I have both my marriage and the birth of my daughter to bracket all the other events that happen.

I guess all the big events in my life have now become waypoints for all the little things that have come in between.

How much is enough?

My wife and I struggle with this question everyday. We feel very blessed in our lives. I make okay money, and with some small sacrifices we can live on my income when our baby comes (did I mention she will have a baby in February?). I think the present day economy has made people slow down and evaluate their consumer driven lives. Do we need all this stuff?

Food, too, is an excellent example of how much is enough. As a couple, our bodies shall we say exhibit some excess baggage that we wish we didn't have. Pregnancy gives my wife ample reason to ignore this outward expression of our love for food. I, however, do not have an excuse. I could say it belies my sympathetic support for my wife's pregnancy, but that wouldn't be true. I really just like food. Portion control presents an issue for us both.

We have all sorts of cliches to describe our over abundance:

• enough is enough
• would you like fries with that?
• go whole hog
• give them an inch and they'll take a mile
• show me the money!
• rolling in dough

We always want more, more, more. Whatever happened to other cliches like less is more?

But, what about love? We all could use more love in our lives. Can love be excessive? I think love becomes something else in excess. Love becomes obsession when it exceeds normal limits, preserving the purity of the word love.

If I have a point, I guess it would be this: we all need to find a balance in our lives. I've always believed in moderation. William Blake had a good point though when he said, "the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom...for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough." I don't think I totally agree with him because we can learn moderation through the excesses of others, but I would amend my original maxim of moderation with the idea that we cannot beat ourselves up over our excesses. After all, personal experience proves to be the best teacher all too often.

I think our society may be waking up from a hangover of our excesses. Looking back at history it seems to happen every once in a while just when our grandparents' generation dwindles in number. I hope in time we will have the wisdom now that we've experienced some of those excesses. A solution to the problem of excess would include love, intrinsically the right amount in its purist form regardless of the amount. May love of your family, friends, and your fellow humankind fill you until you burst this holiday season.

The Solution to Life's Big Problem

Before you get your hopes up please understand that life, unlike most math problems, does not have one solution. I think that most of us have figured that much out. It, however, does have one ultimate outcome.

I dedicate this blog to two individuals who have since discovered all the answers to life's mysteries. They are a couple of people, besides my parents, that had a significant impact on my way of thinking. My fifth grade math teacher, Mr. Woodrick, had a saying that now graces the title to this blog, "Remember: Life is one big story problem." The saying has stuck with me all these years, and today my career reflects that axiom as a practitioner of the statistical arts. Mr. Woodrick (I could never call him Ed as an adult) passed away several years ago now, but his memory and influence remains permanent in the minds of all those he taught.

My grandfather, Mike Fowdy, passed away 13 years ago this month. In fact, it might even be to the day. He loved knowledge and books. I remember going to his den as a small boy and flipping through the pages of his encyclopedias. My papa's red and white mechanical pencil still sits on top of the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle in my memory. He taught me a lot, including how to tell a good story and not to take yourself too seriously. I love him dearly, and I miss his presence in my life.

I am a reflective and analytical person in large part because of the early influence of these men in my life. A legacy I hope to pass on to others in some small way. I hope to share some of that through this blog.