my mom became my dad.

mom was a pretty scary lady. she could put the fear of god into an atheist. my dad, on the other hand, was a sweet guy who basically buried himself in his work, and who could blame him. be that as it may, they were together sixty-three years. i was gone for nearly thirty of those years and, upon my return in '98, i soon realized something kinda weird and kinda interesting. my old dad had become a little scary and mom had become a little sweet. i think you get my point.

my friend gord, (obviously not his real name), is an internationally respected economist who travels a lot. he almost always flies business class and recently discovered, upon his return, that he prefers sleeping in his lazy-boy recliner rather than the bed. also, he likes tiny bathrooms and tv dinners. i'm just kidding about the bathrooms and tv dinners, but you get my point.

when i first landed at the ashram in india, there was a rather short, painfully shy guy there who'd fall into a heap, a kind of unconscious state, whenever he'd approach the swami. i found that incredibly odd, confusing, fascinating. swami simply would quite gently but continuously punch him on the back as he spoke or joked, even while meditating. this went on for the whole time i was first there. by my third month, the boy would sit up after a while. eventually, i left the ashram and only returned six months later. by that time, i was amazed to see the state of that same guy. he had become stronger, more confident, could even speak in front of the group. now, all these years later, a teacher in his own right, that once painfully shy guy regularly speaks in front of hundreds, even thousands of people. i believe you get my point.

about a hundred and fifty years ago, i visited a friend outside of eugene, oregon. his family had several dogs and one cat. it was a huge property with no close neighbours, so the cat only had humans and dogs to identify with. he knew he wasn't a human and it was, therefore, understood and simply accepted that the cat considered himself to be a canine. he slept and ate with the pack. he liked to play fetch the stick. he even tried humping my leg at one point, which was wrong on so many levels. i was strictly celibate in those days after all. ok, i'm sure you get my point.

"you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." author and inspirational speaker, jim rohn.