Mitch 's Blog

Ok, so normally I write about lead capture and lead conversion and how to be a great Realtor etc., etc., etc.  Not this time.

I have been playing guitar since I was 13 or 14 years old.  I'm not as good as I was in my prime, but I can still bang out a rocker!  This morning I was reading my Guitar magazine which seems to be featuring a lot of rockers from the 70's and earlier.  Today I read a story about Jimmy Page or Led Zeppelin. 

As I sat there reading the article about him playing at the  closing ceremony of the Olympics, I could barely get through a line without looking over at the picture.  I spent my youth listening to Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Styx, Journey, Ted Nugent and so many other great bands.  However, Jimmy Page was and is still one of the best guitar players of all time.  The picture kept drawing me to the point I was having trouble reading the article.

As with all of us, Jimmy has gotten older.  But what got me was how normal he was.  When I was younger he was an icon.  When I saw him live on stage it was amazing.  He is a monster guitar player!  While I read the article I started remembering my youth.  It was such a fun time in my life.  From the ages of 15-22 I played in a band and spent my time playing on stage every weekend.  It was quite a great way to grow up.  During the day I was a baseball player with so much promise, and at night I rocked away with my long hair going everywhere!  However, this day, today, I was getting a little misty eyed as I read the article with my guitar hero, are realy guitar hero, not a game.  Here he was, probably 15 years older than me, and just a regular guy now. 

It brought me to think about so much that has gone on the last 30 years of my life.  Have I aged like Jimmy has aged?  Am I happy?  Do I miss being young?  The answer to each question is yes.  I have aged as my long hair is now buzzed short.  I am happy.  I have a great wife, four kids, a beautiful granddaughter (yes crazy I know), a solid real estate company, The eHomes Realty Network, still healty, and so much more.  However, the last question, do I miss being young is the tough one.  I do.  I miss having the looks and the carefree life that the hardest part was having to get up to go to school on Monday.  I miss my hair...really miss my hair.  I miss the friendships that you can only generate when you are young.  The older we get the less chance we have of having true friends.  I'm lucky to have maintain a strong friendship with several of my friends from the band days.  I miss a lot about being young.  Probably mostly the dreams of the future.  What was in store for me for the rest of my life.

So hear I am, 47 years old and my life couldn't have been more different than I had planned.  I always knew I would become a businessman...of course that was if I didn't make it as a baseball pitcher or in a rock band.  Baseball went out the second practice of college ball when I blew my shoulder apart.  Being a rock star went out when I took on a ready made family at 22 years old.  By 23 I realized I had to have other priorities.  My life has changed so much.  I'm much wiser, probaby more skeptical, but still believe in the good of mankind.  It's challenging these days to think of the good when so much is going wrong around our world.  I guess that's why I'm so upset about the direction of our country.  Without being political, I just am not looking forward to this new socialist society we are heading toward.

I do, though, believe so much in our fellow Americans.  I believe that we all have more purpose than we realize.  I believe that our lives are what we make of them.  I believe that we are given so many paths to choose and no matter which path you take, it's the right path.  It just might not work out the way you planned.  I believe that if you help people you will be given the true joy of life.  There is no better reward than giving.  Mostly, I still believe in myself.

Why am I writing this blog today?  I really don't know.  I just didn't have any other place to write how I felt today after I read that article about Jimmy Page and saw how much older and normal he looks now.  I spent of the ride to work today thinking about it and most of this evening pondering why it had such an affect on me.  My goal for you and everyone here...just be happy with yourself.  It's a good thing. 

Thanks for listening!