Rage against the dying of the light

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas 

This is the first post of what I hope is many to come.  I wanted to start it with that poem by the great Dylan Thomas...it speaks to where I am in my life, and how I feel both about the days I've lived, and the days to come.  It also speaks to how I feel about my mortality...I know it's inevitable, but I'll be damned if I go gentle into that good night.

I'm writing all this because I want to leave as much of me behind as I can, while I can.  Years after my grandmother had passed away, I found boxes of pictures gathered over a lifetime.  Staring into the pictures, it occurred to me that I new nothing about the people that were looking back at me...not their names, nothing about their lives, only that at some point, there were an important part of my grandma and grandpa's lives.  My one regret is that I truly never knew who my grandparents were.  I know of them after I was born, but their lives were mostly lived by then.  If I could have one wish, it would be for one more day with them, so I could ask them all the questions a lifetime of living has given me.

So all this is my gift to my daughters, to answer all the questions they may have as they too grow older.  All this is written to let them know how I lived my life...my joys and my sorrows, my triumphs and my tragedies.  It's about the people that have come and gone from my life, and the ones that had the most impact.  It's about the moments that made me who I am, and why those moments occurred.  And, I suppose, it's about how I've chosen to live my life, and my thoughts on it all as I look back at it all.

None of this is to say that I have led a remarkable life; to the contrary, while there have been soaring highs and plunging lows, overall, my life has been lived as an ordinary man trying to do the best he could to figure it all out and trying to extraordinary things.

The next few posts will introduce some of the more important people in my life, and my recollections of them, and how they have impacted me.

Above all, though, you will find out why I do not intend to "go gentle into that good night".