Adam Blatner

Reading a recently published autobiography by Paul Anka, “My Way” (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013), I was taken by his description of Frank Sinatra, for whom Anka wrote the hit song, “My Way” in 1969. Sinatra had his ups and downs and was both a bigger-than-life character who had indeed lived a life that’s full, but also, as described in the book, engaged in a number of follies, drunkenness, entitlement, and other shenanigans that I don’t much admire.

I love the song, the lyrics touching on many elements of my life, too, but yet it didn’t fully express my feelings: Indeed I did do it my way, sort of. Indeed, about ten years ago I had a virtual conversation with my guardian angel, “Bud,” and on reconsideration of all the breaks I was given, we recognized that it would make more sense to sing the song, “Thy Way.” But I did make some decisions, I did exercise some will, I deserved some credit. Okay, we allowed that it was fair for me to claim 18.3% of my fate based on my choices. All the rest was Grace. So now when I sing the song, I sing two out of three verses and finish with “did it…thy way!”