That little sentence will be the last time that number, or any other one advanced by one year, even matters.
This blog is also the very last time I blog about my past. The next time I talk about my past, you'll read it in my future book. This blog is about Jake McClain, and nothing but the present and the future. That's not saying that my past was difficult, or a nightmare. In fact, I had an awesome childhood. The problem is that I allowed my past to run my present, which does nothing for the future.
Simply put, the issue was my father, and by nothing he did personally. He was a tremendous Dad by every stretch of the imagination. He might've been older(50 when I was born), but there was never a day where I thought he was old. He was the biggest reason why I never look at age as any sort of an obstacle.
The problem was twofold. Number one, he skewed my perception of what a man was, and number two, I never allowed my full potential to be exhibited while he was around, which I completely blame on myself.
First off, let's focus on number one. Think of a man who looked like young Harry Truman at 13 years old, a Hollywood star most of his youth, and aged ridiculously well with perfect silver hair and no wrinkles. Then while you do that, think of someone who was also a successful businessman, and already lived a full life by the time he was fifty. Finally, think of someone who once beat a twenty five year old in arm wrestling when he was fifty five, was climbing under and over dump trucks(contractor) when he was over 70, and kept defying logic when his body was failing him. Yup, that was him in a nutshell, and through all fault of my own, I never reached MY potential. Let me explain.
When the man like that is your hero, your instincts tell you that you follow everything he does. You follow him. He might be trying to raise you into a man, but your brain is fighting you off. You love watching him in action, and watching him dominate everything around him, but when you get to a certain age, it's supposed to be your time to shine and let the father revel in the memories. I didn't do that. I was way too happy to let him continue to let him be him and I stay in the background.
Mind you, that doesn't mean I wasn't aiming for my ambitions. Oh no, I've done quite a few things that gave me some life experiences and simultaneously scared my Mom half to death. I've fought in two MMA fights with one week of training(and lost both obviously), directed two movies, helped produce five, started a political trend that got me on FOX news with Neil Cavuto and six radio interviews, walked about a ten mile stretch of Calgary, Alberta by myself when I was 19(LONG story), done more than my share of out of the blue road trips, tried and failed at promoting pro wrestling, and started a blog with the intention of seeing how far I could bring my tennis game without realizing how bad my game was and causing great embarrassment(which DID wake me up and cause me to improve my game). I've done a lot, but in the end, there was always Dad, and when I would go back home or he'd come to town, I'd walk in the familiar position...proudly behind him.
When he was passing away, there were a few tears on my end as the event was happening(and losing it one night at work, but that's another story), but surprisingly I was pretty stoic. One side of my brain was going to miss this man, and the other side was telling me that I was FAR overdue to make my way in this world, and quit looking to the past. I remember my Mom telling me that the reason I never thought he was old was because he never acted it, and he always looked ahead, not behind. That would culminate in my brother and I looking at his old stuff when he was going home for the last time. He had a ton of accomplishments that he stowed away and never told me about. If you want to interject a little humor here, he refused to be Al Bundy...remembering Polk High, four touchdowns in a game, and being the hero ad nauseum. The best accomplishment was going to be the next one.
So that leads me here. I spent the last three years figuring out who I was after my hero passed on, and figuring out what I wanted to do. I did figure it out.
I'm going to live every single moment of my life to the absolute fullest.
I'm going to create my own stories and keep looking ahead.
I'm going to be a film producer. I might even act again if the stars align right.
I'm going to make a lot of money.
I'm going to be a great Dad and husband when that time comes(no big hurry right now)
I'm going to travel all over.
I intend to stay young as I get older.
I will BE The Ladder
And most of all, I will pass this on to my future generations to truly be independent, to live every minute, and know the world belongs to the young, so always stay young.
That's enough going back...let's go forward. Plenty of experiences left.
Don't climb the ladder...BE the ladder.
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