A Monumental Month

December is a big month for most people. There are the holidays, of course, and the end-of-the-year celebrations, and the resolutions, and the parties, the shopping, and on and on. It’s no wonder most of us are exhausted by New Year’s Eve.

But for me, December has even more significance. I was born in December. I was a late year baby which, at the time, meant that I started First Grade when I was only 5 years old. My buddy, Tom Soliday, was born on December 31 and we were the youngest in our class. I’ve written before about the effects of being nearly a year younger than many of my classmates, what that meant for my image of myself even in the first grade. I was small. I was not athletic. And that’s how how thought of myself.

I also got drafted in December. 1970 was the year of the lottery and all of us who were in the lottery remember our number. Mine was 165. I got my notice on December 30, 1970, just two days before I would have been excluded from the draft. The result was a 5 year enlistment with THE U.S. Army Band [Pershing's Own] in Washington, DC, the unit in which my son still serves.

So, as I kick off December 2010 I find it impossible not to reflect on the year, the decade, and that past 62 years. The last year has been difficult physically. I’ve been hurt, I’ve been slow to heal, I’ve been in denial, and I’m just now pulling out of it. But, it’s also been a fantastic year professionally. The Rock ‘n’ Roll events continue to grow and provide me with an opportunity to interact directly with the people who keep me motivated and my work with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training keeps me inspired.

The first decade of the new century has been a mix of joy and sadness. I’ve made friends and lost friends. My family has grown by three wonderful grandchildren and there have been deaths which made the family smaller. I’ve left things behind, and gathered new things. I’ve discovered that lots of what I thought was important was not and some of what I thought was not important is.

The last 62 years have been an extended version of the past year and the past ten. Lots of good. A measure of bad. Some happiness. Some sadness. Some ups. Some downs. In other words, it has been a normal life. I have discovered, much to my surprise, that I am a part of the human race. I can’t expect any more than that.

What I can do, though, is be grateful. Grateful for what I have. Grateful for what I have lost. Grateful to the people that are still in my life and grateful to those that are not for the memories they gave me. If I can stay true to that simple concept this will be, for me, the greatest December of all time.

Waddle on,John

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.