Blog 3496 – 05.30.2026
Anticipation
One of the highlights of life is the thrill of looking forward to something with anticipation. Sadly, many due to the trauma and drama in their lives have come to place of such deep depression that they despair of living. As terrible as it is for such a person, it is also quite hard on those who love them. They must be careful as they teach in water rescue lest they themselves be drowned by the one they hope to rescue.
Tony Soprano, the sympathetic mobster, of the HBO Sopranos acclaimed series, had a mother who typified the older person so saddened and depressed by life that she would have drowned all her children and herself as well. I recall one of her best delivered lines to her son Tony, “Just stab me in the heart.”
I often remarked when trying to describe my own mother’s view of life, especially in her last years before she completely despaired of life and took her own, that some people see life as a cup half full and others a cup half empty, but my mother was a “somebody stole my cup” type of person.
Like Tony’s mom and many who suffer from the same spiraling downward depression my mother found a foil or fall guy to blame all her disappointments and misery upon. My mother’s fall guy was my dad. I grew up believing him to be the “bad guy.” But even before he died of a heart attack or stroke three years before my mom’s suicide, it became clear to me that dad was not the bad guy. He just disagreed with my mom and she with him on many things.
My dad was not perfect, few if any of us even come close, but my dad had a far healthier outlook on life than my mother. He vented his frustrations and disappointments and still maintained a positive view of life’s possibilities. Dad had found his “resting place” as he called it, dad’s resting place was in the woods hunting or in a boat or by a bank fishing.
Dad anticipated every sunrise as an opportunity to enjoy life. Fats Domino, a nineteen-fifties Rhythm and Blues (a.k.a. Rock ‘N Roll) performer sang, “I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill.” For far too many the thrill is gone. I believe that life is meant to be good. An attitude of anticipation not regret is what helps to keep life worth living. With Carly Simon, I believe that these are the good ole days and that it is up to us to make and to keep them so.
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David James White
Carly Simon – Anticipation
theencouragingword 