Over time and through repetition, I’ve conditioned my mind to give myself reminders and messages of various kinds. There are lots of different categories. One category would be the category which I would label as “Warning” or “Safety.”

An example of this would be a reminder to my mind that is related to driving. This mental message flashes into mind as I come up behind a vehicle on the highway, especially on two-lane roads.

If I feel like I want to pass the vehicle ahead of me, my mind remembers what Dean Larsen, the Driver’s Education teacher (and my tennis coach), drilled into me back in the 1960s: “Is this pass necessary?”

Many times now, I’ll answer in my mind, “Yes, it’s necessary — because I want to!” (I like the saying: “Unless you’re the lead dog, the view never changes.”)

Mr. Larsen was 87 when he passed away in 2020. In his obituary, his simple “philosophy of life” was stated: “Be good, don’t quarrel, and always have dessert after dinner.” In my view, those are more good messages to train my mind to remember.

(I never knew until after high school, that Mr. Larsen was an All-American basketball player at BYU and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons. Instead of pursuing an NBA career, he chose to go on a church mission to Argentina.)

There are many other mental warnings or safety reminders that I am either blessed or burdened with. We should all have mental messages in our minds when we’re handling guns. The cardinal rule, of course, is to treat every firearm as if it is loaded.

One other frequent thought message that would perhaps fall in the “Life Guidance” category, comes from lyrics in the old (1971) Carly Simon song “Anticipation.” The song starts with: “We can never know about the days to come; But we think about them anyway…”

The song ends with the repeated refrain, “These are the good old days…” Listen to the song sometime soon — either to renew the memory of it or to hear it for the first time.

The message of the song is a reminder which I think is a good one for all of us. We are making memories in the here and now. These are the good old days of our future.

Last Friday night, I was sitting out under the night sky at Gunnison Reservoir with friends and family. There were a few hundred people camping in the area of the Manti Mountain Bike Race Course. More hundreds would arrive on Saturday — race day.

I have granddaughters who race in the Utah High School Cycling League. The league’s philosophy is that “Nobody Rides the Bench.”

“Our youth are building strong bodies, minds and character through the lifelong sport of mountain biking.”

As I sat there visiting with good, fun people, eating snacks (don’t forget the snacks), and swapping stories, I thought, “These are the good old days!” Then I went a little deeper with my thoughts.

I thought about how advertisers and people talk about “once in a lifetime” experiences. “Book our tour to Gopher Gulch, New Mexico” for a once in a life-time experience.

It then hit me. Every day, every single day, is actually a “once in a lifetime experience.”

Last Friday night, for instance: being where I was, with the people I was in company with, and the circumstances of the event which brought us together, all combined to create a unique event.

It was a “once in a lifetime experience” to my way of thinking. It will never be replicated in the very same way again.

I don’t claim to be revealing an earth-shattering concept here. But, I think that it might be a somewhat neglected perspective in my life. Perhaps some of you readers can relate.

I’m thinking that some of us are better than others at increasing and maintaining the quality of what really are daily “once in a lifetime experiences.” It becomes a matter of what choices we make on a day to day basis.

Choosing to be involved with others and helping others can make impacts that have potential to create high quality “once in a lifetime experiences.” Sometimes we need to make choices that improve our own personal lives.

I believe many Sanpeters are good at this concept. Involvement with family members has a high priority. Neighbors helping neighbors is a common occurrence. Choosing to be in the right place at the right time makes the difference in having memorable “once in a lifetime experiences.”

Am I wrong? (Don’t answer that!) I leave you with the wish that you will now have the message in your head, every day, that “These are the good old days!” And that you’ll make that message true in your life.

— Merrill

P.S. I saw this somewhere. “We didn’t realize we were making memories. We just thought we were having fun.”