Welcome to my home online where you can learn about my life. For those who seek information about my past, present or future, I hope you will find this web site of value.
After a successful career in politics and business, traveling the world and the opportunity to live in Europe, China and Japan, I settled in Maine and embarked on a new adventure.
And a new adventure it was, filled with so many unexpected wonderful experiences and forming new life-changing and enhancing friendships. The topper of it all, I still ask how and why I was blessed with the honor of being appointed a faculty member at the University of Maine!
However, sixteen years later and turning 75, I decided it was time for another change.
In February 2018 after 4.5 very rewarding years serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Resident at the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), I said good-bye and moved on to write another chapter in my life story. I resolved to restore my physical and emotional well-being by devoting time and attention to improving my golf game! For needed intellectual stimulation, I returned to the long delayed task of working on my book project. And, needing some additional funds to pay for a membership at the Falmouth Country Club, I took a part-time job at Home Depot.
Recently, Keiko and I sold our homestead on beautiful Crystal Lake and will be “downsizing” our life-style in a comfortable condo unit in Falmouth Maine as a transitional step to our ultimate next destination––a return to Japan.
It is a move that I have contemplated for some time. Knowing that Keiko would likely return to Japan on my passing, I decided we should make the move together and continue to enjoy our time in a land I found well-suited to my interests and needs as I approach the later years of my life.
Recently, looking through collections of memorabilia as I prepare for our move, tears flowing as I drifted back into the land of long-ago while listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s 1970 hit Bridge over Troubled Water and the haunting lyrics: “When you’re weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes…. And friends just can’t be found,” I began to feel old, lonely and sorry for myself. Getting old really sucks sometimes and cause moments of self-pity.
Then I came across a handwritten note I penned in 1967. For years I have been captivated and inspired by Bobby Kennedy and I had written my reflections on his death closing with his “borrowed” quotation: “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?”
Not quite an epiphany, at that moment I realized that despite my age, I am still driven by the same restless energy, guided by a curious and creative mind and motivated to continue my quest seeking an illusive inner peace. I jumped up saying out loud, “Do you think anybody is going to be interested in any souvenir of you after you are dead?” I switched the music to “Dream the Impossible Dream” and resolved to continue my life’s journey.
I have no idea what’s next, but I can’t wait to find out. [November 3, 2018]