John Paul Strong

Catch Me If You Can

It’s December 16, 2021, and it’s midday. I am flying somewhere between Nebraska and North Carolina, looking out the windows of my plane at the wide-open country. I see large fields, rivers, small lakes, and it is one of those bluebird kinds of days where there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

After coming off a couple of days of being very sick this week, I decide to look back through my calendar and see where all I had been over the last few months. (Yes, I still keep a physical calendar that folds up inside my briefcase so I can look and write down everything that I need to be doing). Starting with July, I reviewed just what all had happened the in the 2nd half of 2021 for me, and a quick smile came across my face because I remembered why I named this collection of stories “Catch Me If You Can.”

The following is what all I have done according to my calendar in the last 6 months:

If this seems like a lot, guess what – it is….

I have brought myself to the point of exhaustion on a daily basis, many days in a row. Hell, sometimes I am exhausted just after working out in the morning before the workday even begins. But no matter how I feel, I have to keep moving and there isn’t anyone or anything that I am going to let stop me.

Sure, some people love to talk about me and probably even hope for my demise, but it isn’t going to happen because they simply cannot catch me.

Of all the things in my life that have value, what I have learned over the years is that I value time the most.  I hate it when people waste it. I love it when it is well used and enjoyed. And if the stats above don’t show it – let me tell you I enjoy every minute of it.