Time flies.
One year, I’m 19 years old and watching Artis Gilmore lead Jacksonville University to the NCAA finals, the next thing you know I look in the mirror to shave and see a 71–year old man.
We really do have to make the most of every day. As trite as that saying may seem, nothing is promised.
Two recent tragedies remind me of that adage. The death of the 19-year-old Kentucky guard Terrace Clarke in a car accident, and the airplane that crashed into a car in Florida which cost a little girl her life. So random. So unpredictable. So tragic.
Celebrate every moment. Break out the crystal and the fine linen. Don’t wait for a special occasion. If you’re vertical , rejoice and make the most of it.
At 70, my wife Karen and I had our first grandchild. I can’t tell you the joy little Frankie has bought into our lives. Our daughter Erin and her husband Charlie recently told us that our granddaughter will be blessed with a brother or sister in November. Now, I want to live to be a 100. I want to share a sliver of their happiness. Watch them begin kindergarten, graduate high school, start college and whatever milestones come along the way.
My partner Billy O’Connor (DaMick) often laments that his grandchildren are in New York, while he and his wife Jenny are here in California. Because of the pandemic Billy hasn’t seen his grandkids in over a year. That’s torture for any grandparent. I miss my little Frankie even when I don’t see her for a single day. God willing, Billy will rectify that situation this summer in New York.
Losing so many close friends in recent years has been difficult. Still, the introduction of new professional challenges in our lives has kept me hopping.
Billy and I have now written three books. The second and third will be published this year. We have started the new podcast, A Mick A Mook and a Mic, and I am back working at Warner Bros. Karen and I are in good health, and, oh yeah, have I mentioned we are grandparents!
If you are alive, and I trust you are or you wouldn’t be reading this, make the most of it everyday. My old pal Don Rickles used to say, “If you have your health and are surrounded by people you love that is all you have the right to ask for.”
So true Don, so true. We are blessed.
