How Did You See Your Day?

Man, the weather currently is amazing. Cool in the late evening and early mornings, or cold if that’s your perspective, and just gorgeous in the afternoons. From what I have seen we could get the opportunity to enjoy this for a bit longer which is nice as we approach deep into the holiday season. It is time for bowl games, college and pro basketball, parades, and lots of food. This weather makes it appear more like winter than late summer. I have just written a positive thought about my perception of the weather around me and what it makes me think of when it this way. There is another group that will tell me I am crazy because it is too cold, too sunny, and will find something to fuss about with regards to the events that feel wintery.

There isn’t much going on tonight inside my brain. Well, that’s a lie, there is a lot running around but the pounding of my sinuses, constant blowing of the nose, and overall lethargy from a slight cold his sidelined though thoughts. It’s okay though because I am just plodding through letting it run its course. I still got up early to stay consistent but instead of going through the morning routine I took a little nap to get a little more rest. I cannot remember the last time I had a cold and I cannot remember a time I didn’t feel like doing anything. That thought led me down the path of others sharing their maladies. Even though I feel rough, there is one group that will say men can’t handle being sick, I still will just get done what needs to be done. When I scroll through the plethora of social media channels and speak to people I interact with daily, I feel quite fortunate to be able to get through my life with so few problems. As much as I am entertained, I ache, well not really, for the people that seem to have non-stop sickness, personal strife, and a series of drama-laden television shows that are happening in real life.

It is funny, if you see things good for the most part people will tell you that you have a mind like Pollyanna. I truly disagree. There are days that I am pissed, pained, and just generally not in a good mood. The difference is, I still can see the beauty in a sunrise or sunset, can hold the door for the next patron at Subway, speak to people in a manner that is respectful, and just ignore the dipshits that dot the landscape. Over the past few weeks we have had a rash of shootings in our area. There has also been a rapid uptick in the use of horns by over zealous drivers. Why, what is the issue? What happened to a good old fist fight, a flick of the finger, or a Polk County cuss out berating? Does the horn really get it done? Are you really in that big of a hurry? The social media, instant media, always on platforms we are now accustomed to have made us think that everyone wants to hear about are woes.

My wife tells me that I am evil because I enjoy the social media circus. Our President pokes the bear daily and the people go crazy. If you watch one network or follow a particular person on social media, you lean one way and can never see the other side from the opposing channel or a different personality. First, when did television channels become one sided? I thought news was news. My naivety is coming out. What is wrong with an opposing view? We used to disagree with people but that was it. We disagreed. We didn’t belittle them, vilify them, or try to dismantle their lives. The same thing happens on social media. Instead of just ignoring people we disagree with on social media we engage them, try to destroy them, and find joy in attempting to humiliate them. Maybe, we should try to ignore them again. If we look at what gets media attention the same tactic would work as well. Why do certain news items get traction and then get their own cycle until the next grandiose thing comes along? I don’t want to go that direction but think about the past year and what has garnered the media spotlight. Why did it get the spotlight and then what took it off? It was the next story, then the next, and next. Some of these big stories grab our attention and really don’t affect 2% of the population, heck that maybe generous. If we did the same thing with the sad sap storytellers on social media, they might lose their platforms as well. Don’t engage and don’t feel sorry for them. Do this instead. Tell them something positive.

Oops, there goes that Pollyanna again. It was a beautiful day today but there is a group of people that will complain because it was a bit too breezy. Dammit, it was too breezy, so I couldn’t fly my drone but instead of fussing about it I took a nap and packed up goody bags for Full Service. It’s getting cold so I’ve got to go out to the barn and blanket the horses but that is not a bad trade off since Brianna is editing my video for me. Dang kids these days. Three negative statements that all have a positive thought attached to them. Enjoy your night, or don’t, it will pass in a few hours anyway.

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Yes, I Wrote About my iRobot Roomba

What a cool experience this morning! Watching the dream become a reality was cool. Yes, it was rainy, cold, and breezy but people showed up and ran or walked the 5k in the Inaugural Shop with a Cop 5k Run. It was fun to walk with my brother, his girlfriend Christa, Dad, and a nice lady that was smoking us before the hills got to her. She had just had hip replacement surgery and was still walking faster than we were for the first mile and a half. This was her training walk before her 10k in January. It was great to see the Yodonis’ family effort pay off with an excellent group of people.

After the “race” we went and had a great breakfast to restore all those calories we lost on our excruciating exercise so early in the morning. That’s where the excitement ended and the idea for tonight’s blog started. You know the expression, “Watching paint dry”, well I did that today but with my iRobot Roomba. I got enthralled and realized that this silly robot that cleans my floors daily attacks the house much like I and others have attacked are own lives.

There was the noise signaling the beginning of the journey. Loud, fierce, and quick to begin. A quick change of direction and off it went. Sound familiar? We are determined we are going to do something and we have an initial burst of energy. After a couple of minutes, it was banging off the wall and spinning around the living room. Then, suddenly there was an alert. “Please spin the side wheels to adjust.” I did the mandated fix and off Roomba went again. Just like our own lives. We bounce around trying to find direction and then there are problems. We either stop or we get them fixed and move on. Roomba continued to work around but I noticed some other things that just reminded me that I have often looked like this silly robot.

After about 35 minutes it appeared it was cleaning in the same area over and over. Comfort in surroundings or loss of direction. This resonated with me in the terms of how we attack some of the things we say we want. We get comfortable doing the same thing over and over but not really knowing if it is moving us towards completion of our ultimate goal. We stay in a little corner of comfort and at times we try to get out, but we bump up against something and get turned back around. There are times we even get out of the spot only to be brought right back in by one wrong turn. Roomba seems to do this repetitively. I watched as the robot would attempt to leave the office area, bounce off something, and then, turn right around and head back into the corner of the little room.

After an hour, most of the house was clean and the small light of energy was showing it was time to start looking for home. There are times in our own lives that we are so close to completing the task, but we still must have enough energy to complete the goal. We wear ourselves down, bouncing off our proverbial walls, aiming to get to the finish line for that particular goal. As I watched Roomba attempt to get over the final carpet I found myself cheering for it to end. The excitement was welling up inside like it was my own goal. Then, it bounced off the carpet and turned around heading back towards the family room. All the way back to the family room and a few more bounces the damn thing was back in the office. Why not just go home, get your goal, and feed yourself the energy you need for the next task?

With the energy light brightly on red, the dock light flashing, and myself losing patience with this little time killing journey I started taking odds that Roomba was just going to die right here on the family room floor. It wouldn’t be the first time a goal went uncompleted. We all have those dreams and goals that fall short. Whether we lose our way, hit the wrong wall, take a different direction, or just like where we are there are times it just doesn’t work out. As I pondered the likely conclusion of a dead battery, cleaning out the pod, cleaning out the brushes, and then cussing Roomba for not getting the job done, the darned thing hit a wall, turned toward the kitchen, and aimed for the living room. Within two minutes the little vacuum that could was headed towards home base. Like many of the journeys we take throughout life, there are times it appears there is no hope and we are just going to fall a bit short, and then we make one move a bit more to the right or left and the direction becomes perfect. Roomba crawled closer and closer to the base sizing up the finish line and the energy it sorely needed. Just as it was about to hit home and achieve the goal it was stuck. Yes, it had made it to the finish line but couldn’t cross it. Sound familiar to life at all? After watching for about 30 seconds, probably more like about 5 seconds, I tapped it with my foot, and bingo, it was home. Completion, success, cheering all around. Just like us, we get so close but even when we can see the finish line we might need a bit more encouragement to finish what we started.

Yes, I wasted a lot of time watching a stupid robot clean my floors. Or did I? Seeing a goal achieved through progress made turn by turn and through a little bit of assistance by others is how we do things in our own lives. It really is funny though; this little robot runs around my house cleaning the floor, so I don’t have to, and I still judged how it was doing its job. So judgmental and it wasn’t even my battle. We need to fight our battles to completion, hit our obstacles head on, bounce off and readjust, and at times get a little assistance. The same people who are saying we can’t get it done will be the same people that cheer when the job get done. Do it your way but let people assist if they are willing.

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Dancing in the Rain

It appears we are in for a change of weather over the next few days. It is almost winter, so a bit of a cool spell isn’t a terrible thing. I am positive that I am ready for a change in seasons. We do live in Florida and are spoiled by splendid falls and winters, but it is nice to have a cool spell to give us a bit of a break from our normal. The whole point of that is if you really listen to people they are positive in their thoughts.

People will tell you to surround yourself with positive people, think positive thoughts, and to be the positive that others see. This has been construed to be positive. You know, in the sense of happy, joy, nice, and the other words that are to bring a smile to your face. There is an amazing peace when a person can make something that appears to be so negative seem like there is a silver lining of joy attached to it. We search for the rainbow during the storm, we search for the positive story during an hour of news, and we love watching the powerful fall then giving them a second chance after atonement. We love the underdog, the underserved, and the underprivileged. We are positive about that and we share it with anyone that will listen.

Why does the positive have to be good to be positive? It is positively going to rain, be miserable, and cold. I am positive about that. Guess what, it’s okay. It will pass. Positive can be a noun or an adjective. If it is good it is positive but if we know it exists, then it is also positive. When the rain occurs, we can be positive that it is happening, or we can positive that it will end. Why do we begrudge something that will end? We allow the negative to persist and fail to see the positive. Yes, sometimes it rains too much. Hell, sometimes you eat too much but you don’t stop living your life. Why do we see the negative in one thing but easily see the positive in others?

Being positive doesn’t necessarily mean sunshine and rainbows. Sorry, I stole that from Rocky. I am positive that I hate people that want to do dreadful things. I am positive that there are things I want to do. The cool thing about that is that by being positive I want to do them, when I do them they make me positive. Follow along, it really isn’t that complicated. I am positive that there are times I do things that I hate doing. The opposing side of that is that by doing those things I make other people feel positive about me. See, being positive doesn’t mean I am always happy. When the alarm goes off at 4:45am so that I can journal my calendar, read my book, do my yoga, and go feed the horses, I am positive that I would rather sleep until 7am. However, the positive feeling I get from accomplishing those things for myself, well, minus the horse feeding, makes my day start on an accomplished positive.

Positivity is feeling good about things as they happen to you or being able to find the good in an event. Being positive is understanding what you are doing and the consequences for the actions. My nephew had an idea for helping an organization with it’s Christmas goals. He created a 5k and decided that he would donate the proceeds to the Shop with a Cop program in Lake Wales. He was positive it would be a great project. Through frustration, determination, and challenging work he and his family have pulled it off. His positivity created an event that is going to happen this weekend. I am going to participate in this event. I am positive that I am going to suck and that it is going to be cold. My excitement is that I am going to get to see this kid’s dream become a reality. As slow and as cold as I am going to be I am positive that there is no other place I could see myself on Saturday morning. Sure, I am doing something good for my health by exercising, I am pushing myself through uncomfortable elements, and I will watch others do the same. We could bitch and moan about the weather, the course, or a million other things but we all had the same thought; by doing this we will be helping others and maybe they too will be able to have a more positive experience.

One last thing, the Florida Southern women’s volleyball program is playing in the national tournament tomorrow in Pensacola. Go to www.fscmoc.com and check them out. They have had an incredibly positive season and could use some positive vibes in their next step.

JULIAN ALEXANDER
Mohammad Metri

Living Life with a Full Heartt -- Greg Heartt a Former Player at FSC

Being a native Floridian, we enjoy our warm weather, beaches, and predominantly blue skies. All that is great, but the weather the past few weeks has been splendid. Lows in the upper 50’s and highs in the low 80’s. It really is quite nice. We are in for a bit of a cold snap later this week, but that too is a pleasant change. Weather and training go hand in hand. The long bike rides, swimming in the open pool or seas that surround us, multiple hours on a tennis court, or logging hours on a training session with your equine. This beauty and normal heat we deal with leads me to my thoughts for this evening regarding another former player from FSC, Greg Heartt.

Greg was already a player when I arrived at Florida Southern. He was a diminutive guy with passion and heart that were way bigger. Being fit was his second nature and he was super clean with his diet, as he knew what he wanted and how he was going to go about doing it. We didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of his habits, mostly due to my naivety with nutrition, but we never disagreed about his desire to play.

During his first season with me there wasn’t much singles play during matches. He was an integral part of our success at number three doubles. He was the free swinging, go for broke guy on the team and his partner was the French-Canadian volley machine. The two of them battled most of the year against the best teams in the country and helped us make it to the Regional finals. The emotions and excitement of that match set a tone and expectation that as hard as we tried, for multiple years, could not be duplicated. The part of his game I loved was his no holds barred approach. If he was in perfect position or on the dead run, he was going to go for it. It worked a lot but to say he never affected my nerves would be a lie.

His senior season was a year of change for him. He lost two of his mates as Knoedler and Laflamme both graduated. Laflamme was his doubles partner with who he had some remarkable success. I knew he was going to play in the doubles line-up, but I just wasn’t sure with whom or in what position. He even had some success in singles but doubles was his forte. During his senior year he ended up having three doubles partners and won with all three. He was the base and just worked with whomever I threw at him. Again, we made it to Regionals but didn’t have the best run when we got there. Greg graduated and moved on to the next step of life.

Alright, that is the tennis side of Greg. The side of him that kept me entertained was his spirit, love of life, and zest for an enjoyable time. It was easy to see where he got it from. His parents were ardent supporters of the program before I came and continued even when I joined. They would come down for matches and loved when we played near where they lived. His dad loved tennis, got to play with a few former pros, and was a great resource when it came to guys on the team. His mom was often there and made sure Greg and the other guys were properly nourished for the busy tournaments and matches. Greg, himself, had an effervescent personality. He had a smile on his face 99% of the time. He was always game for a night out, a run around the lake, or a party at Club Love with the boys from the team.

Once Greg graduated I wasn’t sure where he would end up. He had such passion for the outdoors I just didn’t think a job inside would suit him. He got into doing triathlons to continue his never-ending passion for competition. He got really good, qualifying for some of the higher-level events. Of course he did, I would not have expected anything else from someone with his drive. The job indoors never panned out and he went into the coaching profession at high end tennis clubs. He has busted his butt and moved up the pecking order while continuing his passion for this beautiful game. It has been a pleasure watching him move up, promote the game, and have fun like he did while he was at FSC.
Again, the story is the same. I had great guys who challenged me, made me better, and proved how good they were when they head out into the real world. If you ever need a good tennis coach look Greg up. If you ever want great competition against a guy that will give you everything he has, give him a call as well.

My Cool

Sometimes it is hard to see the good or cool through our daily slog of life. While sitting down tonight completely unaware about what I wanted to write about I took a sip of my cheap Merlot and it hit me like the tart finish of the dark red vino. We all have done some cool stuff in our lifetimes. Don’t compare your life to someone else’s just look at your life. Go back as far as you can remember and think about those memories. Of course, we can all pull up a few things, some good and other bad, but if we really delve into the depths of our memory bank there are cool things for sure. Cool things are also relative. What you think is cool, others will think is stupid or trivial. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you think it is cool. This isn’t something you discuss with others because you don’t want to be swayed by others’ perception of what a cool event is. If you thought it was an experience that rated cool on your scale then it is cool, neat, an experience that you had that you would never trade.

Some of the cool stuff that I remember isn’t necessarily riveting or even the most positive of outcomes, but the experience made it cool. I remember my mom driving myself and two other kids all over the northeast in an RV, so we could race BMX nationals. Yeah, that was cool, but the real cool part was getting lost in Harlem, NY when they would jump on your car to clean the windows back in the 80’s. Another cool part of that trip was that something happened with the battery and she couldn’t turn off the RV, so she drove all the way home, over 24 hours, without taking a rest. She was beat, but I will never forget that trip because of those experiences. There are many cool things that surrounded the BMX life and as I type they are just flooding back into the front of the brain.

Another cool experience was being a little kid and watching my dad and granddaddy race in the SCCA. They raced all over the southeast. I remember playing in the red clay at Road Atlanta, riding a tire at Sebring to mow down the weeds on the backstretch, watching my granddaddy crash at Daytona, and knowing that he held the overall speed record for his displacement of racecar at Talladega for many years. Those memories and moments are special. Because of racing I got to meet many famous people, who while at the track, were just racecar drivers. Those experiences have led me to look at people differently than a lot of the people I listen to daily.

I have relatives who have faced a bear while fishing in Alaska, have worked with the greatest rock stars of our time, and who have picked themselves up from humble beginnings to become successful in their chosen fields. I find this stuff cool because of the example that has been set and that it shows what is possible if you chase what you want to do.

What about cool animals. My brother in law was a K-9 officer. His dogs were amazing. So well trained but amazingly lovely to the family that cared for him. His skill set and the dog’s respect for the job necessary were just astounding. What about our family friend that has a dog that detects sugar levels to help with Type 1 diabetes. This is just a fabulous skill that has been trained into this dog. He has also helped others completely by accident because it is what he was trained to do. This stuff is just cool. The training and skills that animals are capable of is beyond any expectation I have ever had for one of my beloved pound puppies. Coolness is so relative to the person that thinks it is cool. Don’t get me wrong, I think some of these dogs that are being touted as “therapy dogs” are being abused but that really isn’t for me to judge. If you are religious, you know you will judged at the time of reckoning. I will just keep looking for cool animals and their amazing behaviors.

Lastly for this evening, people are cool. The jobs they do, the dreams they have, and the pursuit of those dreams they feel are worthy of chasing. I have a couple of friends who are firearms enthusiasts. Not what you would term weirdo’s but truly students of weaponry and what they can do. They study them and teach others how to safely use them. What about the college professors that I know that when they are not teaching are traveling the world seeing places that the rest of us only see on our sign-on screen on our computers. They have their favorite spots and share their experiences in the modern digital world, so we can all see the splendor they are capturing firsthand. Then there are my entrepreneurial friends who are trying to help others to help themselves. The status quo just isn’t their cup of tea. They may have normal careers but there is more out there, and they want it. I have classmates from high school who are making a difference in the world of medicine, law, business, and education. These people are cool. They are pursuing their excellence for their own reasons. Maybe it is for social status, economic reasons, or maybe it is because they love it. They don’t think they are cool but that makes them even cooler in my eyes. As I stated earlier, cool is a relative thought. Take some time to reflect as far back as you can, and I know, you too will have some amazingly cool things that you have done, and it will make you want to do more cool things as you move forward.

Tonight’s little thought comes on the eve of a visit to an amazing place tomorrow for Michelle and myself. When we visit we get to witness people moving around and their entire mission is to serve the people there to either make their days as comfortable as possible or to eradicate the non-cool from their bodies. The battles that are fought day and night are not cool, but the care, technology, compassion, and staff make the cool emit like early morning sun rays.

Get up early and watch the sun rise. Watch it set as well. Take every moment you have, and it will be hard for something cool not to happen. Sometimes the moon shines bright enough for the cool to be seen as well. Enjoy your days and don’t let others tell you what cool is.

Devolver bien por mal -- Jorge Gutierrez a Former Player from FSC

It is the Monday after Thanksgiving and we are speeding towards the second to last holiday of the year. Christmas is right around the corner, or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, or any other celebration that may be appropriate for your culture. It is time to reflect on the good, the bad, and the things that we want to make better as we move towards a new year. It has been a year of learning, growing, and a lot of tweets from world leaders. Hopefully, there will be a lot of about two out of three next year as well.

Tonight, I have decided to pen a bit about the happy Spaniard I had the privilege of coaching for three years.

Jorge Gutierrez came to Florida Southern from Spain as a highly recruited player. Somehow, he found his way to us, as I would later find out that many other higher ranked schools were interested in him. From the beginning the kid was great. He barely spoke connective English but always had a smile and a great spirit on the court. He was a hard-working student and managed to make great grades in classes that he didn’t even understand early on in his college career. One of the funniest things was his outstanding performance in his freshman English class. He made great grades on his writing assignments, often scoring better than his American classmates. Not only was he a good tennis player, he also had skills for learning how to utilize the college academic system to his utmost advantage. You see, there were writing labs where students could take their papers to have them looked over before they were presented. Jorge would put his thoughts down and then march them over to the writing lab to have them put in proper form. It was a type of Spanish/English to English literary translation that resulted in Dean’s list grades for his entire time at FSC. During his senior year he was also part of a group of players who presented their senior capstone on JetBlue Airlines. The group knocked it out of the park and we were anticipating graduation and Jorge playing another year while doing his MBA to further enhance his American business knowledge.

On the court Jorge was more at home. He had moments of utter brilliance and then there were days where he played to be more exacting. The fun about Jorge was you never knew which one was going to appear. During his three seasons playing at FSC he had a winning record all three years in singles. He played predominately at positions five and six with guest appearances higher up the roster. He was a big hitting left hander with powerful shots. He gained himself so many opportunities to move forward and finish with simple volleys or overpowering forehands it became impossible to count all of them. The only problem was that the attack portion of the court was as about as uncomfortable to Jorge as a ten-minute speech about what it meant to be an American during his freshman year. All kidding aside, Jorge was a grinding singles player who had everything necessary to be a dominating presence on the court. He was a hero for some of our biggest wins and I will never forget the day he was the clinching point against Queen’s College. The roar from his teammates and the crowd was just one of those moments that is indelibly marked in your memory.

As I spoke about above, the net and surrounding areas weren’t Jorge’s most comfortable places, but he had success in doubles. During his freshman season he went 13-4 at two and three doubles. The biggest surprise came with a losing record his second season. That year he and his partner only went 11-13 but all the matches were played at number one doubles. Yes, he played number one with Ivan Marevic. Ivan, who I will write about later was a hard hitting, go for broke player and needed someone that could open the court for him to take his risks. Enter Jorge and his own version of erratic, go for broke doubles style. The two of them made an odd pair but they had so many close matches the overall record could have easily flipped or even been hugely successful. The best part of the whole experiment was that Jorge accepted his role and embraced the fact that he was on the number one team and needed to lead as such.

Jorge never got to play his fourth year at FSC. He was offered the opportunity to go back to Spain, obtain his MBA, and learn at the family business. Selfishly, I wanted him to stay but as we always preached growth was painful, and the goal was to be a great beyond the tennis courts. He has gone on to do wonderful things in Spain and is now in an industry he desires to learn more about. Hopefully, he is still acting like he did when he was playing with reckless abandon and never feels like he is comfortably ahead. Some of his best performances on the court came when he was underestimated by his opponent. I hope none of his new business constituents ever underestimate what Jorge can do.

During his time at FSC, I never felt that Jorge was comfortable with who he was or what he was truly capable of doing with the talent he had. Early on in this little bio I mentioned that he was highly recruited. I will never forget the first fall regional tournament we went to in Valdosta. I was watching him battle a really talented player from a highly ranked team. A coach from another highly ranked team came up and was just baffled how I ended up with Jorge. He stated that he had tried along with some other schools and he knew that they could have offered him more. I am really glad he came to FSC because I got a lot more from him than I could have ever offered him.

Thankful for a lot

A while ago, I wrote about being consistently inconsistent. Well, I proved it. There was a moment that I had consistently been writing, happily telling stories of former players and then pontificating on things that just popped in my head and wouldn’t leave. Then, I allowed life to intervene. Isn’t that what we all say? Life got in the way! Life happened! It did, and we plowed on as a family. A job was left for opportunity years in the making, a battle has been fought and won, classes were taken and the desired outcome has been achieved, a hurricane delayed the outcome of a goal, and we have a horse that drinks a beer daily. All of these put a strain on the family unit, but each was worked through with diligence and the care necessary to achieve a goal satisfactory to the standard desired.

That leads me to today. Every time a blog was skipped I felt guilty. I want to get the story of my former players out because each of them is a great guy doing remarkable things. The thoughts that stay trapped in my mind cause havoc and once I get them on paper the lunacy evaporates. It is a weird dynamic that I wish on no one else. My poor wife lives with it and her pain can only be described as excruciating. Guilt is a funny thing. The entire reason I wouldn’t blog is because I had not completed my real estate licensure work. I had taken the class and was ready to take the test, but the first paragraph paralyzed my progress. Whether some was legit, and some was self-induced it halted the next step in my life according to my staircase. In reality, the staircase stopped on a couple of extra floors before I reach the top. Since I hadn’t achieved my real estate license I stopped doing everything I enjoy. I wouldn’t read my book in the morning. By the way, I am reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell currently and it is an informative read. I wouldn’t blog, fly the drone, workout, or any other thing I enjoy. The reason; if I have time to do this stuff I can study for the State exam. The final straw came a few weeks ago and I decided to go give it a shot and see what happens. I passed but wasn’t even excited because all I could think about was how much time I had wasted waiting for the right time. I never considered that everything happens for a reason and to embrace the challenges that had been placed in my way along the way.

Even though I wasn’t doing stuff I truly enjoy I was keeping up with the social media world and my former players. I have been almost like a fervent religious fanatic when it comes to staying in contact with them. The social media stuff is just entertaining. You guys have some funny thoughts and your cryptic messages are as entertaining as your personalities. To end this post, I am going to highlight three men who I have been following for a good while.

All three went to the same high school I did, attended at least part of the time I was there, and have become successes in their chosen fields. The first is a straight up bad ass. When he was in high school I believe there was talk about owning a bar. Well, he accomplished that and then parlayed that into a bigger bar and a lot of us ended up eating in his multiple locations. He also ran or was a part of a magazine I wanted to be in so badly. Now, he has a beautiful family, posts about working hard and finding people to work hard with him, feeds your kids in schools, and supplies the healthy stuff that more of us should be eating daily. The second one I did not know too well but he also attended school around the same time as me. I thoroughly enjoy seeing his banter with the unruly neighbor, his passion for the entrepreneur lifestyle, and his relentless pursuit of the happy complete life. Sometimes the picture we thought we saw ages and shows a completely different dimension when revisited years later. Lastly, is a guy that I knew but he was closer with my cousin and his family during our youth. He too has chased the business glory and moved out of state to do so. Recently he showed incredible resolve regarding a family matter that cannot get any closer. His steadfast love, willingness to share the moment publicly, and his heartfelt sentiment has been amazing to watch. His love of his family during such loss has made me just want to hug mine tighter because like they say, “You just never know.”
These three guys are just an example of what I see when I scroll through the social media platforms and I look forward to their thoughts and adventures each time I get the chance to see them. It is a refreshing change from the negative that so often infiltrates us and seems to be the norm. I appreciate these three for being abnormal in the best way possible. Oh yeah, I have passed my state licensure and will be joining Michelle at Century 21 At Your Service Realty as her partner and not just her back-office assistant. The new journey is just beginning but I look forward to the challenge and working towards a common goal with my wife daily. If you are wanting to sit down and have a beer just come on out to the barn and you and Rio can have a beer in his stall. Enjoy your family, create the life you want, and be who you are. Actually, be the best you possible. We’ll get over the fact that you aren’t who we want you to be.