No birthday parties,
Just experiences and
Time with my close friends.
If you doubt their's God,
How do you explain it all
Which can't be explained?
Seems like yesterday,
Since I retired from work,
It's been a full year.
How did they first know,
What was edible or not,
And how to make it?
Some of my best trips,
Were the impromptu road trips,
Shared with my best friends.
Dear Politicians.
Do right for America,
Not your own party.
I lost a great deal,
When I found the real me,
My life is complete.
I don't know your name,
Yet, you look familiar,
But don't know where from.
A fresh start, again,
Today I start a new day,
To meet all my goals.
Odds are against me,
Each day is a new challenge,
But I don't give up.
I see an old man,
When I look in the mirror,
Not yesterday's boy.
The older I get,
To meet people and make friends,
Becomes much harder.
When I see children,
Seeing past differences,
What adults forgot.
Be like no other,
Carve your own path to success,
Leave your legacy. 
As you get older,
Hold on to your closest friends,
Hard to find new ones.
Remembering hurts,
When they are no longer here,
To be here with us.
I twitch, squirm, and yawn,
All because I can't sit still,
And pay attention.
Letting my tears roll,
From my eyes to down my cheeks,
Releases sadness.
I am thankful for,
Friends who became family,
Who weathered my storms.
The time has arrived,
For me to just walk away,
From years of baggage.
Watching the heavens,
Nature's woven tapestry,
With its varied hues.'
A quote from my Dad,
"Be better than yesterday."
Still brings on the tears.
God, give me one day,
To tell him that I loved him,
How I miss our talks.
I found out early,
Money can't buy happiness,
A life lived well, will.
Dare to be different,
Set your own trail on fire,
Leave your legacy.
Each generation,
Heard stories of yesterday,
From today's writers.
When you live your life,
Both authentically and free,
You leave no questions. 
The hidden hero,
Never underestimate,
Vanilla's flavor.
After a stressed day,
Nothing beats coming back home,
To peace and quiet.
My thirst for knowledge,
Goes beyond traditional,
Travel is my game.
My life has been blessed,
I don't live life in regret,
Just wonder what if…
What you see outside,
Does not match what is brewing,
On inside my head.
No-one is like you,
Someone wants to be like you,
Everyone's different.
Life's richest treasures,
Faith, health, family and friends,
Then everything else.
A simple gesture,
Don't forget to thank them,
They're why we are free.
The autumn's crisp air,
Reminds us winter is near,
With its long cold months.
Aim for perfection,
Will set you up for failure,
Just aim for your best.
As smells flood the room,
Mom's cooking my comfort food,
Takes me back in time.
Look at all of me,
Body positivity,
Tells me, I'm okay.
When it comes to food,
I enjoy spicy and hot,
Watch me break a sweat.
I like to reflect,
Nostalgia brings me comfort,
Seeing passed faces.
How do two people,
See the very same events,
Totally different?
Find your happiness,
The rest will fall into place,
Without much effort
Life's a lottery,
Meant to be played every day,
Each day's a winner.
You will know its time,
Everything just fits in place,
It will just feel right.
A knock on the door,
Children pretending to be,
All but just themselves. 
Did I remember,
To thank you for being there,
For my life's journey?
I may not be cash rich,
But my wealth is measured by
My experiences.
What means more to you,
Living a good moral life,
Or of something else?
Media brainwashes.
Question all you hear and see,
It may not be true.
ABOUT ME, THE BLOGGER
Robert W Kovacs is a graduate with an Associate of Arts in Elementary Education from Broward (Community) College and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Public Administration and a Master of Science in Parks and Recreation Administration from Florida International University.
He recently retired after just over 40 years of service and his final position was the Payroll Administrator. He continues to astonish himself as mathematics just didn’t add up to anything exciting in his grade point average throughout both high school and college years. As long as he can remember his writing has always been a part of defining him.
The blog shares the form, syllable count and format of a traditional haiku but with a twist of themes being on life's observations and lessons learned as opposed to traditional haiku being based on a nature theme.
The author uses quick whips of daily events, humor and "a-ha" moments to capture his haiku.
Like his YMEJOURNEY blog, his writing brings you into his world as it offers him a catharsis, meandering through experiences of significant episodes of reflections of this ride on earth, that we call life.
Robert prides himself being an even-keel, grounded, educated and professional who appreciates simple pleasures in a complicated world. He enjoys more things than he doesn’t and welcomes being introduced to new adventures. In his spare time he enjoys traveling on vacations to see more of this world, a diverse genre of movies and TV, reading mostly biographies and fiction, listening to almost all genres of 80s music, board games/Wii, beach/pool, bicycling, parks, cooking and eating, relaxing and thought provoking conversations with quality time with genuine people. Presently, his primary coordinates are approximately 26.0523° N, 80.1439° W, on Spaceship Earth.
WHY HAIKU?
2024 Daily Challenge - Haiku!
I belong to a writing club and our facilitator (friend) gave us a challenge to take on 01.01.24.
I was challenged by this friend to use one style of writing and post every day a learned lesson of life or a positive affirmation every day of 2024. The writing style must remain the same for the duration of the challenge. All free form writing that is anything but narratives (poems, limericks, sonnets, etc) less than 1000 words must post daily while narratives exceeding 2500 words once a week. Anything in between at least 3 times a week. You must keep all grammatical, syntax, rhyming and syllable counts but can vary on themes and content.
I wimped out on the second part of the challenge as I picked Haiku as my writing style as it was simple.
A haiku is a Japanese poem of three lines consisting of 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively. Typically, covering images of nature but I’ll take my spin on it for this challenge.
I like to write about my life’s observations, lessons learned and self affirmations as I try to find my way through a complicated world.
Eventually, they’ll make it to my blog but for now here’s my attempt at a haiku a day for 365 days enjoy my Nuts, Bolts and Everything Else.
Enjoy!
AUTHOR'S DISCLOSURE
An artist's purpose is to evoke emotion and/or dialogue of the masterpiece created, without either, it's no longer art, let alone a masterpiece.
This blog represents the author's original writing and makes no apology for posts resulting in experiencing a sense of discomfort when reading his own personal reflections, thoughts, affirmations, observations and opinions of his journey in finding his way through a complicated world, of his so called life. The author requests readers remain mindful of dates when a post was written. Many of the earlier posts were academic assignments with guidelines to uphold the integrity and standards of a specific writing style. One or a combination of formatting, rhyming schemes, syllable counts, themes and specific guidelines which were up to self-interpretation and self-discovery.
This set the tone for the author's tone and unique writing style. He requests readers remain open-minded to viewpoints differing from their own. The author strongly believes "we can disagree and still remain friends" and welcomes respectful dialogue and questioning of his writings. However; hateful disagreement our outright dismissal or suggesting the author's writings are inherently wrong will not be tolerated and may not be conducive to constructive conversation.
PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Photographs for YMeJourney are generally used from the blogger's personal photograph collection, downloaded from Unsplash.com or maybe created via AI tools.
Blogger's personal photograph collection are photos taken from author or photographs provided to him by family and/or friends.
Photographs taken from the Unsplash.com website state, the following in their terms of use: Unsplash grants irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use images from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash.
The remainder of photographs or animated renderings are created by various AI apps and/or websites freely availalble on the internet with images created by them are free to use.
