This last trip gave Maggie and me a great opportunity to spend a lot of time with the grandkids. I started thinking about what advice I would give to them on how to live their lives. (Not that they’ve asked for advice, but you know, just in case.)

I thought about it a lot, and I couldn’t improve on Bruce Lee, who said,

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

The way I interpret this is that you don’t know what the future will bring. You don’t know which of your abilities and interests will be useful to you along the way. The only thing you can do is develop yourself as best you can and try to be ready for whatever happens. When things happen, you can’t wish the situation away or apologize for not being ready. All you can do is take what you have and fully apply yourself to the present situation. Nobody can tell you how to do that, it’s completely up to you.

So, it’s up to you kids. Your Granna and I will continue to make the path as easy as we can for you, but only you can guide yourself along the way. Good luck.

Be water.