There is an expression “the joy is in the journey, not the destination”.  But I think about the destination a lot.  Yogi Berra once said “if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?”

I recently found a park near where I live. It is a destination.

I take Darwin there a couple of times a week.    I call the place Darwin Park, because Darwin has marked most of the park as his own.

I use walks in Darwin Park as meditation time.  These are a few of the things that I think right now:

I think Pennsylvania is one of the prettiest places in the world, three seasons a year.  We have the most beautiful springs, summers and falls.

I hope that no one discovers Darwin Park.

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I am starting to think about what life will be like as an “empty nester”.  My older daughter is a year away from graduating college, and my younger daughter may be 3 years from going away to school.    There is something bittersweet about the thought of them moving out and moving on.  On the one hand, they are growing into exactly who they should be.  On the other hand, I will miss them once they leave.

Dinners at our house are like a contact sport.  Sometimes I can’t get a word in edgewise, and I love it.

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My wedding anniversary is next weekend.  (I think if I write about it now, maybe I will remember it on Sunday).  Twenty-three years ago, I married my best friend.  Twenty-three years later, she is still my best friend.

My best friend enjoys travel more than anyone else I know.  She tolerates all of the indignities of travel (cramped airline seats, airsick children, time zone changes, fatigue) and makes every trip an adventure.

One more note about my best friend.  Twice people have met me, and said “your wife must be a saint”.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  Except that she is a saint.  She is the most selfless person I’ve ever met.  She sacrifices for her family and her friends in a way that I’ve never seen before.

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One of my friends used to say “the sign of real maturity is when you can be joyous about someone else’s success, even when it comes at the expense of yourself”.  I’m working on that.

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I think it is time to publish my book.  Several people have recently asked me when I am going to publish it.

In order to publish it, I have to learn how to do a number of things I don’t know how to do right now, like indexing, and formatting, cover art, and obtaining copyright clearance.   I think I will spend a lot of money publishing my book.   I think my ego will take a hit when only 3 people purchase it.

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Regardless of how many people purchase the book, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it so far.  I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’m starting to think doing it as my fourth career.

I’ve had three careers so far.  I spent my first years out of college working in a research lab.  Then I went back to pharmacy school, and spent several years as a dispensing pharmacist.  Since 1994, I’ve worked in the pharmaceutical industry.  I love what I do, and I have a great gig.

My dream right now is to be able to do two careers at the same time:  my career in the pharmaceutical industry, and work as an author.  The truth is that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past year.  I think about my day job, and I love it.  I think about writing, and I love that, too.

In a time when fewer and fewer people are making a living at writing, I consider myself lucky to be able to write for fun and for friends.   But there is a little part of me that would love to write a best-seller.

Hal