Confessions from a Recovering Father

“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.” - Nadine Stair

I wish I could have a mulligan, a do-over, with being a father. I wish I could go back in time about 12 years and start again. I would have done it differently. I would have been a better father.

Last week was spring break for Kansas University. Caitlin, who will be nineteen-years-old in about a month, used her time off from class to accompany me to New York City. I attended meetings during the day, but my daughter and I were able to spend time together in the evening. It was a great six days. I hope Caitlin would agree. Read more

How to Discover the Unexpected

“None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.” - Kathleen Norris

The unexpected can change our lives. When surprising changes occur, our daily patterns, lifestyles and relationships can be enhanced and taken to the next level. We can develop new insights and new opportunities will present themselves that didn’t exist before.

Discovering the unexpected is an “a-ha” moment in our lives when the dots become connected and the next steps we need to take become very clear and exciting. The unexpected is what we worked so hard to achieve, dreamed for so long to come true and kept the faith in believing, even when we felt like giving up. Read more

Seven Amazing Ways to Become Love

“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.” - Gilbert K. Chesterton

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? (holds up one finger)
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit.
Mitch: But, what is the “one thing?”
Curly: (smiles) That’s what you have to find out.

In the movie City Slickers the theme centers on the question what is the one thing life is about. The preceding scene between Billy Crystal’s character, Mitch, and the late Jack Palance’s character, Curly, is a brief reminder that life doesn’t have to be difficult or complex to figure out once you find that one thing.

For some that one thing might be success, friends, money or faith. For others, the one thing is love. Love is the foundation in life; not just in receiving love but in giving and becoming love, too. Consider these seven amazing ways to discover how to become love. Read more

Four Rocks to Grasp in Life

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot. Don’t it always seem to go. That you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” - Joni Mitchell

The coffee shop a few blocks from my house recently closed. On nights when I wanted to have a couple of hours to get some writing done, I would pack-up my laptop and head to this inspirational sanctuary. It never really occurred to me I would arrive one night and find it closed.

Likewise, it’s unsettling when, for as long as we can remember, we drive past the old farm house sitting on land covered with loblolly pines and oak tress only to look over one day from the car window and see it gone. Where a graceful, almost majestic home once stood has now been interrupted by earth movers and dump trucks. Our paradise has been deferred and we are uncertain of its new location. Read more