So, I'm down at a favorite beach pub on Galveston Island, the Tipsy Turtle, and I meet this cute blond chick. Well, she buys me lunch and then says, "why don't I give you a ride back to my place?" Well, heck, why not? But, when we got to her RV at Jamaica Beach, my dogs were there waiting to be fed. Who knew?

We had eight fun days, some with grandkids and some not, but days like that stop when we get back home and she hands me a new list of things to do. But, isn't that life? You get on a roll of fun and laughter, drinks and winks, sippin' and dippin', and then...

To find my best years, I have to start with some best days. But, in my life, most of the best days were interrupted by some of the worst days, with a healthy smattering of just "other" days when nothing much happened at all. And, don't forget "forgettable" days which were not the worst days, but certainly forgettable. Some years, I specialized in those. So, let me first filter out the worst and the forgettable; makes the stack easier to go through and certainly gets us past the pity-party paragraphs. I had too many to mention, but here are some low-lights:

> The day my first dog, Cindy, died. I was 11.
> The day Linda Helen Barnett moved to El Paso. I was 14.
> The days (too many names to remember) broke up with me. Lost the list, but it hurt.
> The day John Kennedy was shot.
> The day I got cut from the high school football team
> The day I flunked out of college.

This list goes on. We could be here all night. Let's just say, life ain't easy, but who would we really inform with that revelation? We have all been there.

On the other hand, I could name any number of days when I brushed death in a cave, or on a motorcycle, or in a rip current in the sea, or in a foreign land either in military service or, later, in my business travels to inhospitable places, or simply being on the wrong plane at the wrong time, or when "THE love of my life" just checked out... This is a special category; "worst place, best possible outcome." When life goes on after you wonder if it will, that counts as a "worst day/best day" with an asterisk.

So, pardon my distractions, but now we have thinned the files and can rate the smiles:
> The day I joined the Navy. Getting paid to see the world? Boot camp ended this euphoria by the third week...
> The day I left the Navy (Honorable). Proud to serve, but all the rules and regs drove me nuts!
> The day I finally left college. Actually, I think the PhDs were happier than me...
> The day I arrived in New York City for my first real job.
> The day I arrived in Hong Kong on temporary assignment.
> The day I climbed Uluru (just to the end of the chain)

But, as far as I can relate, "best" life is about love. Seeing places, doing things, experiences which others have not had - those are the "flash" of life. They fill the heart with pride and joy as we peruse the albums we've created for our shelves and coffee tables. Those are the days we relate to our friends at the club, or the guy next to us on the plane, or the neighbors at the bar-b-q. But, flash is there and then it is gone. It boils down to a few pictures and tokens and trinkets and stories from far away, but it has no warmth, no touch, no feel, no love. It is a score to be cherished, but has no hand to reach out and draw us near for years...

A wedding gets us closer, but is not the ultimate. It does have love by the load, but love at that point is a little focused on, well, you know... "Nothing is in our way now! Yippeee!" I digress again...

But, eleven months after our "Yippee", me and she became we three and life suddenly had meaning I had never known. Previously, I had dined lunch along the Champs and dinner within the Ginza, SCUBA dived in the South China Sea, gambled in Vegas, but until a little girl cuddled and cooed while laying on my chest, I did not know what real adventure felt like. It was consuming. It rearranged priorities, re-posted calendars and sent the superfluous fleeing. Here, a life that I had had a part (a very small part according to my wife) in creating had taken over management of my time, attention, affection and whatever else she wanted. Life was never the same. Days were never the same and they turned into years. The "best" years!

Then came daughter number two. Same story, except making sure number one did not feel slighted." Keeping multiple females happy became a new priority. Seven years later came daughter number three. I have no idea how it happened. But, because numbers one and two had developed many interests other than dad, I welcomed the new little lady into my life. So, it continued... And continues still...

The once-young cute blond in the picture with this old geezer, we continue to celebrate together the best years now with grandchildren, or just the two of us, with a lunch, by the sea...