This is the moment all of my readers have been waiting for, the end of my warbling. I hope you have enjoyed the journey, it started out with an idea for just a short little pamphlet of less than a 100 pages or so. It gradually grew to a full length of just around 300 pages. Now, I am finishing up my second volume. Who would have thought I had so much to talk about? What is amazing is that I am still married. My wife was my editor and proofreader. I still have one short chapter and that is to acknowledge my contributors and family members that did not make the cut, so to speak, due to time and length constraints. Besides who is going to read a book that long, anyways?

I promise I will try to make this chapter as short as possible. While my life is far from over and I am going to be taking another life altering step, let’s face it, my days of kicking up my heels are long gone. The days when I could go strong for more than 24 hours at a go are also just memories. I have led a good life, however, I have made a lot of mistakes along the way. I try not to have any regrets because I firmly believe that there are no free rides and every action you take has some repercussion. I also think that if you do learn a lesson without paying some kind of price, it is a lesson soon forgotten. While I feel I could have done without my first two marriages if I had not met them, would I have met my third wife? If I had never met her, I believe the price would have been too high. Even though I have lost a lot in these marriages, I have also gained a lot. I would never have made those gains, otherwise. With my first marriage, I became a nurse and moved to Nevada. In my second marriage, I took up scuba diving and I got to travel around the world. I also bought a nice boat that I got to enjoy for a few years.

My first two marriages and subsequent divorces also brought a great deal of financial heartache. But I survived and eventually I will be able to retire and spend the rest of my life with my loving wife, Connie.

I moved out west to save my first marriage, however, all it did was delay the inevitable outcome and that was a divorce. It also caused me to lose out on a lot of precious moments with my family. One of the reasons I moved out west was that I was being smothered by my family. So, maybe my moving out west allowed me to grow as an individual. If I had not moved out here, would I have become the person that I am today? Would I be writing my memoirs now? The fact is nobody really knows. I guess, life is made up of trade-offs and compromises.

In a few weeks. I will be starting my pre-surgical diet that is when the realization will hit that I am going to have a bariatric procedure. Once you have this surgery there is no going back and your eating habits will be forever changed. I guess, to quote a line from not only a novel but a movie entitled Dune, …”a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” I guess this is a fitting way to end my story with a quote from one of my favorite movies and books. As I promised, my story will continue because as long as I have my blog I will still have a voice.