Standing in the delivery room in NJ the night of April 11, '74 in hospital garb, watching my then-wife Cynthia Elaine at the end of labor with the doctors and nurses beginning to surround her, I knew that a new life was about to emerge into the world. I could not imagine what her thoughts were, but my mind & heart were racing. "Am I prepared to be a dad - will I be a good father?" It was “ready or not” here I am & out popped my son - Alan Todd. It was both exhilarating and confronting at the same moment. Let's fast forward to October 12, '88; and this time I'm standing with similar garb in a hospital in the Bronx, NY where my now wife Cynthia Rene is lying waiting for the doctors to perform a C-Section. Similarly, my mind & heart were racing. "Will I be a better father this time/will I be there to walk her down the aisle? While one mind could see the procedure (not so pretty) the other went somewhat into a daze. Stirred out of it when the nurse handed me Alena Chantel. I was somewhat startled and welcoming at the same moment. In both cases, I heard the deep voice inside saying life is different now. "You've just extended yourself outside of you." While it was daunting, it was gratifying with great wonder - "It's a miracle! Todd is almost 47 & Alena is 32.

As I've come into the period of my life where some would say it's the 4th Quarter, I feel that I should attempt to pass on nuggets of life experience that can hopefully be helpful to others. So, I've decided to post reflections on my life in episodic form. While they will be snippets and not deep seated contemplations, still the hope is that will perhaps stimulate thinking in others such as to evoke constructive reflection for their life development. As my dear uncle said to me when I was a very young man "I'm not here to tell you what to do but rather I can tell you what happened to me when I did something similar to what I see you doing." Alan J. Inman