Falling off a horse and not getting back on.

Eating that first ear of corn-on-the-cob

Eating that last slice of Black Bottom Pie

Walking down to the beach on your first day of vacation and being bombarded by the aroma of salty air, the symphony of breaking waves and seagulls, the massaging of sand squishing between your toes and the soft caress of the sun on your skin. Slipping off your sandals, you take your first summer step into the ocean, the cool water swirling around your ankles. And for one brief moment all the troubles that accompany daily life peel off and fall listlessly into the water as the next wave envelops and carries them far out into the ocean. Far away from you.

Nursing a grudge like a newborn kitten

Waking up in a warm bed on a cold morn and thinking you need to go to work, only to realize it’s your day off. And that comfortable bed wraps its cozy fingers around your body and says “Stay with me just a while longer.”

Talking about other people when they are not around

Laughing at a good ol’ joke

Blaming your wife

Blaming your husband

Blaming your parents

Blaming your kids

Looking at other 50 year olds and noticing how much they have changed

Looking at yourself in the mirror and noticing how little you have changed

Indulging a bad habit. Just one more time. That’s all, just one more time.

Collapsing into the recliner after a day’s work and an evening meal, flipping on the TV and watching show after show after show. You watch other people get shot and have affairs and shout at in-laws and undergo operations. You watch others have car wrecks and marriage problems and get in jail and bust out of jail and get the bad guy and save the world. And you don’t even have to think.

Kissing her.

Missing her.

Looking down at that old dog as he looks at you with beckoning eyes that say “All I want in the whole world is for you to scratch me behind my ears.” And you reach down and scratch him behind his ears