Life is a passing fantasy so it makes sense to live a life spent in a state of wonder.
I was listening to the film music for Harry Potter by John Williams and realized that it has been almost 20 years since the movies first came out behind the torrential success of J. K. Rowlings Book series.
The kids now all 20 years older, still young, but no more naive and innocent as they were in the films.
Hogwarts reminds me of my time at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York especially the year I lived in the old Eastman dorms which had a gothic architecture to them. It was a school of just musicians and much like the supernatural gifts of the Hogwarts students the Eastman collection of young musicians was not unlike that. They were amazing in the level of ability, talent, and work ethic, but just as impetuous as any youthful witch or warlock could ever want to be. Even the faculty had this air of mystery around them because at Eastman the atmosphere wasn't one of stringent duty to the subject matter but a real interest in nurturing the students to become really great musicians.
But just like my time at Eastman, the magical days of Hogwarts have past and life has taken many swings of fate. My days at Eastman are nearing 35 years ago and yet I think of those times so often. I was a student for 2 years and studied with my teacher and did different gigs in the area while preparing for my next career step, whatever that would be.
Presently I am faced with creating a compelling future for my life and not to live a life always looking nostalgically back at the amazing life I have lived so far. Hard not to do that. It is also difficult to see into the future at this point. It is almost as if I am graduating from high school all over again.
Growing up I never wanted a domesticated life living in the suburbs, clipping the hedge, and mowing grass. Now that I actually will own the house I grew up in, that fate seems close to reality, but I am thinking that 'home' will be the place my address is and not a whole lot more than that.
I have described my youth as having had middle class parents, living in a mid-south town, in an average home, in the mid-south part of Kentucky with a mid major university.
Bowling Green Kentucky is actually a really nice town as midsized towns go, not quite what I would call a city but beginning to show some signs of it. It is clean, has an active arts scene and music scene, and varied industries of international fame. Western Kentucky University is a beautiful and successful university and really has given this town the stability over the 20th Century which has propelled it well into the 21st Century. It is a clean and safe town to live it with a pretty large international community as well. People here are very nice and treat others mostly very well. We must however also claim our share of yahoos too.
So what is the point of all this?
I think that the answer is that for me there is no tomorrow. There is only now. I only have time to do what I can do to fill the rest of my life with whatever it is going to be that makes me feel like I am moving forward and higher.
What has become very clear during the first two months of 2022 is that the path towards the future lies in my ability to be a person in service of others in some form. That means not only to serve but to lead by serving, something I have always been hesitant to do.
My parents were very good Indians but not very good at being Chiefs. They were mostly humble and always looked up to authority. I have no doubt they both possessed leadership qualities but never strove to lead anything but Sunday School class, which is more than I have led.
I'm reluctant to put my face out in front of people. I'm afraid to speak my mind on topics because I am never convinced I have all the data necessary to present a point of view outside of my gut feelings about things.
The chances in life at this age of 61 will be getting fewer and fewer as time marches onward. I don't have time to hit a home run in the 9th inning. It is the 9th inning. There is no more wait until I figure it out.
My adventure moving forward is going to feel a lot like living a in a fantasy. I must believe in the power of wonder and trust my ability to do and say the right things going forward knowing full well there is a large possibility that I will make many mistakes at every turn.
If I am to exercise my desire to be an entrepreneur, to create a business worthy of greatness, and to build a company people want to be a part of I will need all of the drive I can muster and employ the help of others because I must lead people to create what I have in mind to create.
I must hurry because life is a passing fantasy and this adventure will accelerate as time goes by.