What used to matter the most...

now seems a like distant thoughts.  As I have watched my mother-in-law decline in recent weeks, I have often reflected upon my own mortality.  In so reflecting, I think back on how things that used to be so important to me rarely enter into my thoughts.  For instance, in the 80's when Larry Bird played for the Boston Celtics, watching them play was close to an obsession for me.  Now a days, though I still pull for the Celtics, I rarely watch a game or peruse the box scores.  Likewise is the case for my beloved Boston Red Sox. 

I used to read the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) faithfully and would stack them up until I could get to every cover story that caught my interest.  Invariably, I would pass up lunch invitations from colleagues so that I could use that time to read the WSJ.  It has been years since I have perused the WSJ. 

As I am firmly ensconsed in the final 1/3 of my life, good Lord willing, it seems that these things, which once meant so much to me, hold so little value now.  These thoughts bring me back to the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who wrote so long ago yet pervades my thoughts these days:

"Things which matter the most in life should not be at the mercy of things which matter the least.”