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Just when I thought that nothing could shake my world, here comes Stella Hope. Wow what an incredible little girl. My daughter Madison and son in law Andy, had this beautiful girl on Feb 1, six days before my birthday. Yes, she is an Aquarius, just like her grandfather. I could tell from the first picture, she is going to change my life in more ways than I know. I know that I am not the first or last grandfather, and hopefully all the ones before me and all the ones after

What I find amazing is how I can say something for years and not even be aware of what I am saying. I am continually amazed at the power of our language. For years I have used the expression “Knock ‘em dead” as an expression of encouragement. Never once did I stop to really realize what I was saying before one day I heard Stan Goss say “Knock ‘em alive.” That was a real wake-up call for me. Stan was one of the men who brought the New Warrior Training Adventure to Houston

I love language and the way words can have multiple meanings because in my world that means multiple messages. With my oldest daughter Madison recently getting engaged, I have been thinking a lot about where I have been, where I am, and where I am going. Big events in my life have a way of stopping me in my tracks and getting me to see these things. On Christmas night, Madison accepted an engagement ring from Andy. Even though they have been informally discussing marriage

I am continually amazed at how life gives me continual metaphors in which to learn every day….some days bigger than others. Yesterday I had a big one for me. After my morning walk in the park, I came back to my car and it had been broken into. Someone had smashed the right passenger window in and stolen my man bag with my wallet, phone, my guitar pics, and my priceless pictures of my daughters over the years. This is not how I imagined my new years would start out when I

Sometimes the best perspective is not always the most obvious one. I have recently relearned how important giving space is to gaining perspective. In Shadow Work, Cliff Barry teaches that when someone is doing their work, if we can physically get them away from what is going on in their process, they gain a whole new perspective. Because I am a connector, I tend to want to get in too close and I miss the perspective space gives me. As I have shared before, my gifted artist

Sometimes miracles come in funny shapes, sizes, and at times when I least expect them. As most of you know through my blogs, I have struggled over the years with connecting with my father. I am the oldest son and we have always butted heads and struggled. My father is 89 years old and still moves around well and is a walking testament to good genes. In the past few years, our connection has dwindled to mostly lunch at either the salad bar or Kim Song by his house on a semi

When my mother passed away, we found some unexpected stuff in her house. One of the things I found was a file in her file drawer called “Stan Correspondence”. What was in the file was letters my father had written me in college my freshman year. At that time my parents were still married and I was definitely under my dad’s thumb……. both emotionally and financially. Let me share some data to put this all in perspective. My Dad was an attorney. All letters from him were di

One of my favorite days of the year is my birthday. Although it has always been a favorite, over the years it is because of different reasons. It is the one day of the year where there is a lot of attention put on where I am in life……a marker of sorts that we as a culture celebrate with many different rituals. When I was young, I couldn’t wait until my birthday because it was usually a great party and tons of presents. I always felt a little slighted when I was young that

I was taught that when we learn our lesson, things will change and we will no longer need to keep getting the same message or lesson presented to us. This seems way to simple and the times that I don’t want to believe this are when I THINK I have learned my lesson and opportunities keep being presented to me. I have always been a nice guy. I like being a nice guy and have always steered clear of mean people. I always thought being a nice guy was the right thing to do and I

To all my friends and family…..no matter how hard or wonderful times are throughout our lives……they shape and mold us and ultimately become our memories. My oldest daughter is getting married this year and my youngest will be entering her senior year in college…..a long way since I wrote this piece for them 6 years ago when I was a single dad starting to grasp the concept of what I thought was a challenge was truly a blessing. I wrote this as my daughters were close to leavi