I have no complaints about where my road of life has taken me. But getting here certainly wasn’t what I expected. It’s been a rough and sometimes painful ride, but I don’t regret making the journey. Yeah, I could have done things differently, but who knows where that might have led me. So, I guess when I think about do-overs, I should keep in mind about being careful what you wish for.

Thinking back just now about some of those divergent paths Frost mentions, three important events come to mind. The first being the decision not to give my firstborn daughter up for adoption. Of course, I knew that would be a life changer, and it was, in a positive way. Then there was the night I was destined to meet the love of my life, KaraLynne Pope. A seemingly insignificant decision led to a life I would never have envisioned. Of course, the love ended in tragedy for me (don’t they all?), but everything I was to become flowed from that event. And of course, there was the decision I made to leave my American life behind and move to Korea. Nothing has ever been the same after that.

I have fewer roads to choose from here in the final chapter of my life, but I have been blessed with all the experiences that came with the paths I chose to travel. *sigh*

Meanwhile, back here in the present, let me share the events that filled my hours yesterday.

Then it was time for our Sunday Sweets Stroll. And yes, I decided to do the photo every 1000 steps thing again. I figured I should document the route because I’m planning to change things up going forward.

For our Sunday evening fun, we kicked things off at the Outback Resort poolside bar. I’d never seen the place so packed. The pool was full of kids being loud and happy, which is good for them but not so enjoyable for us. So, I suggested we take our drinks and sit at the Outback open-air restaurant, where we shared some fish and chips. After we ate, we moved inside the Outback Billabong bar to enjoy some aircon. When Swan finally finished her glass of wine (same glass in all three stops), we headed up the highway and, after some back-and-forth discussion, decided to finish things off at Wet Spot. The big news is that the bar next door that used to be Green Room will be reopening in a matter of days.

Anyway, we made it home safe and sound, and I awoke to another day.

Facebook memories carried me back ten years to my working life.

Moving on to the July 2019 LTG archives, I write about a new charity project–a single mother with five kids and no sponsor. I figured helping her directly was more beneficial than giving money to an orphanage that may have had legitimacy issues. Yeah, I was still pretty naive about things at this stage of my residency. The teenage daughter I considered sponsoring for college wound up pregnant before finishing high school. I don’t recall why or when I ended support for this family, but I’ve found others to help since then that are more worthy. My current projects include a college student (yes, a girl I briefly dated), a cancer patient, and a widowed mother. It’s not a lot, but every little bit helps.

Today’s YouTube video is a nighttime stroll down Alona Beach in Panglao, Bohol. Been there, done that, wanna go back again. The video does a good job capturing the magic of the place. Even got a glimpse of my favorite hangout, Escape Bar. Maybe I’ll live there in a do-over life.

Here we go again:

Here it is, another Hash Monday, and right on schedule, rainy season has arrived. Thunderstorms through the night, and it’s been raining all morning. It doesn’t bode well for a tough Leech My Nuggets trail. I’m just gonna play it by ear and see what happens.

You already knew this, but it bears repeating: