In this area I plan on reflecting on my personal history. My hope is by revisiting the road I have traveled so far, I can begin to see where or if I have really gotten off the proverbial track. I am a strong believer of “everything for a reason.” Because of this, I believe it is possible that while I may still be striving for more in my life, it is possible that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I refer to this phenomenon as the George Bailey Syndrome.<\/p>\n
Like Jimmy Stewart’s <\/a>character classic character in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” <\/a>I long to travel; or in my case ROCK the world. However, also, like George Bailey, I married, my own version of Donna Reid who has her own dreams, which tend to stray less from home. Fortunately, like George, I have a wonderful family, including my wife, and to awesome little girls. But sadly, similar to George on his journey of self discovery, I have given in to frustration when I fail to see the beauty in my own life and surroundings. Broken banisters and incessant music has set me off too. But alas, like George when I do stop to see the beauty around me, I am one of the happiest people alive.<\/p>\n As a kid, every year, I used to look forward to sitting down and watching “It’s A Wonderful life.” This was a big deal as it only ran once, sometimes twice a year. This was before you could view it anytime of day on a number of 24 hour marathons that dominate the airwaves immediately after Thanksgiving! DVDs did not exist yet and while it eventually became available on VHS, all I could find was the colorized version; please, do not even get me started on this most heinous of crimes!<\/p>\n \u00a0Why is this relevant? For one simple reason, but you must read on.\u00a0 Since the movie was only shown once a year, and it often started later at night, I continually made a single monster flaw. After George jumped off the bridge and before he had his experience with Clarence, there would inevitably be a commercial break. It was right around this time that I would . . . fall asleep! Yep, fall asleep. Not once, but several times. For years I thought the movie ended with him jumping into the freezing water. There was no IMDB <\/a>or Google <\/a>to verify this, and I had no intention of actually asking anyone. Talk about conditioning at an early age.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0It was not until I was much older that I saw the movie in its entirety (not to be confused with the most excellent SNL “Lost Ending”<\/a> ) However, even after knowing the full ending I still struggled with the movies simple message of being able to see the wonder that exists all around one\u2019s self regardless of where you are.<\/p>\n\u00a0
\nTrue Story: ADD Moment<\/h3>\n