{"id":1096,"date":"2010-11-15T21:11:59","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T02:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2010-11-15T21:11:59","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T02:11:59","slug":"live-love-and-laugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=1096","title":{"rendered":"Live, Love, and Laugh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Live, love, and laugh.\u00a0 It is a saying of which my in-laws are very fond.\u00a0 You can find it on the wall of one of their favorite restaurants in Tampa, Daddy\u2019s Grill<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That little saying says a lot about life.\u00a0 You must live, you must love others, and you can\u2019t take life too seriously \u2013 in other words, you need to laugh aloud on occasion.\u00a0 And that is just what we did much through yesterday.<\/p>\n

Every now and then you have to take a break from the routine.\u00a0 Yesterday was one of those days.\u00a0 We worked a little in the morning, and then we followed up by\u00a0going to\u00a0the birthday party\u00a0of\u00a0our favorite two year-old grandson.\u00a0 Afterwards, we finished the day having dinner with some great friends.<\/p>\n

The Aussies call them mates, in the squadron we refer to friends as squadron mates, and in the Navy we have shipmates, on the team we call other ballplayers teammates, our classroom friends are classmates, and all of these monikers mean the same: good friends.<\/p>\n

Developing friends is serious business.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite authors is Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry.\u00a0 In his book, Wind, Sand and Stars<\/em>, he writes of the value of friendship.\u00a0 He says, \u201cNothing can match the treasure common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions.\u00a0 It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.\u201d<\/p>\n

de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry speaks so eloquently of friendship.\u00a0 But I have to disagree with him to some extent.\u00a0 Sometimes, one is lucky enough to meet a person who becomes a great friend very quickly.\u00a0 In such a case, it is very similar to planting a 100 year-old oak tree rather than a single acorn.<\/p>\n

Last evening, my wife and I planted an oak tree in becoming friends with another couple recently moved to Florida.\u00a0 Sometimes you can instantaneously make a connection with others of like mind; it happened when I met my father-in-law for the first time, and I had a similar experience last night.<\/p>\n

I have little doubt if our friends were to meet my in-laws, they too, would experience that same instant bond of friendship.\u00a0 They are of like mind also.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s to living life, loving without boundaries, and on occasion, laughing with abandon.<\/p>\n

D & D, thanks again for a wonderful evening.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Live, love, and laugh.\u00a0 It is a saying of which my in-laws are very fond.\u00a0 You can find it on the wall of one of their favorite restaurants in Tampa, Daddy\u2019s Grill. That little saying says a lot about life.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[416,883,1085,1154,1585,1684,1934,2139,2209,2212,2251,2330,3210,3327,3465,3489,4283],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-general","category-personal","tag-antoine-de-saint-exupery","tag-classmates","tag-daddys-grill","tag-dinner-with-great-friends","tag-friendship","tag-good-friends","tag-in-laws","tag-laughing-with-abandon","tag-live-love-and-laugh","tag-living-life","tag-loving-without-boundaries","tag-mates","tag-shipmates","tag-squadron-mates","tag-tampa","tag-teammates","tag-wind-sand-and-stars"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t