53 Verbs
That describe me
In alphabetical order, these are 53 of my favorite things:
To assist To befriend To bike To communicate To complete To contemplate To converse To drive To eat To encourage To enjoy To entertain To exercise To expect To explore To golf To grow To hear To help To hike To hope To improve To inspire To kayak To know To lead To learn To listen To love To meditate To play chess To play Malice To play Uno To post To pray To publish To question To read To relax To remember To revise To share To sit To swim To taste To think To travel To try To understand To walk To watch To wonder To write
I was inspired to develop this list after reading a post by my writer-friend Amy Marley. She does a lot more than just write a list.
I’m always tempted to write more, which means I’ve changed a lot from the young man whose high school English teacher wrote in his year book: “brevity is the source of wit.” I was a man of few words back then. In a way, I still am, which is challenging for me when I write.
Thank you, Amy, for the inspiration and the encouragement to keep on pumping out the words and for encouraging me to always be myself.
I could add “To program” to the list. My friend and fellow writer Mitchell Allen wrote something that reminded me of the fun I once had writing computer programs in BASIC and FORTRAN IV. I always marveled when I could write a few lines, punch up the cards or the tape, have it fed into the machine and see results from the calculations pop out in nice, neat tables.
Mitchell has a way with words that I enjoy, perhaps you will too. You can visit his introductory “bookshelf” here:
In the early days of personal computers I bought an Apple II, so I could write and run programs to my heart’s content, which I did. Getting programs whittled down to bare bones so they were small enough to fit into the 48K of RAM was always a fun challenge for me and many others in those early days. (Bill Gates has written about the fun he and Paul Allen had writing concise code for those early machines.)
I remember my delight one Christmas when I finally got Santa and his sleigh to jerkily “fly” across the screen. My daughter, son and I spent many hours playing “Little Brick Out” and “Oregon Trail.” Those were the days (early 80s). Life was simpler and safer then.
Rasheed Hooda has been a frequent source of inspiration and encouragement on this journey to becoming a professional (read that paid) writer. I wrote a brief bio for Rasheed a while back:
Our mutual friend Holly Jahangiri, who IS a professional writer, wrote a much better story about Rasheed:
I went on to become a Program Manager (in the general sense, not the computer sense.) Now thankfully retired, I can devote a larger chunk of my time each day to a couple of those verbs: reading and writing.
I debated whether to submit this story or not. While the list is meaningful to me, I wonder if it will be anything but boring for you. Then, I thought, no, the list tells a story, albeit a sketchy one, of me.
I thought of my friend Trista Ainsworth and the encouragement she often gives to step out of our comfort zones and live in abundance. You can read about Trista in her recent story
I thought about expanding on each verb, then decided not to. Let the verbs speak for themselves without elaboration. To do each one justice would turn this short piece into a book-length memoir. And, I doubt that would be anymore interesting.
If you enjoyed this story, and would like to know a little more about me, I invite you to have a peek at the stories I’ve linked to below. The first story might be considered an elaboration on one of the verbs listed above.
If we haven’t met or crossed paths before, I invite you to leave a note so we can get better acquainted. I’ve told you a little about me; I’d like to know more about you.
As this may be my last story before Thanksgiving, I’d like to wish all of you, my friends, a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with family, fine food, and much joy.
As Always: Happy Reading, Writing, and Connecting!
