Vintage Tom McEwen for a Happy New Year

Posted Jan 8, 2012 by The Tampa Tribune

Updated Jan 8, 2012 at 01:54 AM

Breakfast Bonus for the Holidays

Over your Christmastime glass of chilled, spicy tomato juice, over-toasted pre-buttered Cuban bread thinly sliced, two basted eggs atop buttered grits, a slice of holiday baked ham, chilled sliced tomatoes with mayonnaise dashes, glass of cold milk, coffee, then a mouth-cleansing bite of two of the red apples someone gave you, this special Saturday morning trilogy:

A friend sent along an essay written by Robert J. Hastings titled, “The Station.”

The wife of a friend of his read it at the funeral of her young husband, former Miami Dolphin, Wayne Moore.

Allow me to share it with you.

“Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at the crossing, of cattle grazing on the hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of rows of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillside, of city skylines and village halls.”

“But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damming the minutes of loitering -waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.”

“When we reach the station, that will be it!’ we cry. ‘When I’m 18. When I buy a new Mercedes Benz!  When I put the last kid through college!  When I have paid off the mortgage!  When I get a promotion!  When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!’

“Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all.  The true joy of life is in the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.”

“‘Relish the moment,’ is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: ‘this is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’

“It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

“So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles, instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.”