If I Were a Young Man

If I were a young man...

... I would still be flying my Ercoupe, the little two-place low-wing mono plane I had for years.  With other Ercoupe owners, we had group fly-ins weekly all over California and Arizona.  We were part of the jet-set with breakfast in Corona, Lunch at Anaheim, Supper in Santa Paula.  I even had a buffalo burger on Catalina Island one day.

...I would take a cabin cruiser up the inland water way from New Orleans to Bar Harbor.  You can cruise in safety all that way without setting foot in the Atlantic. What a way to travel.

...I would take a motor-home and follow the Lewis and Clark trail from St. Louis up the Missouri River and down the Columbia to the Pacific.  I would try to recapture the adventure they had exploring the Louisiana purchase.  What took them two years would, today, make a fine six-week sight seeing journey.

...With my motor home I would also follow the Santa Fe trail west.  I have actually stood in wagon tracks made by covered wagons in the middle of the nineteenth century.  I could use more of that.

...I would learn to play the piano. I loved to fiddle with the piano when I was a kid, and enjoyed picking out songs by ear.  With just a little introduction to music, I could now doodle on my keyboard in earnest.

...I would make a greater effort to learn a second language.  I was too lackadaisical in my efforts to learn Spanish, French, and Russian

...I would do again what I did right.  Learn photography, computers, Ham radio, touch typing. These interests have stuck with me and made my old age quite bearable. Also I learned to fly a plane and pilot a boat. I would again have a swimming pool.  I would repeat having a family  I would try to avoid wars,  however, and stepping on land mines.

Young folks, pay attention to grandfather. Do it now.  Have adventures and follow your passions with enthusiasm.  You get too old too soon.