Important Things

For work, I had to travel to San Antonio, Texas last week.  My air route took me from leaving Maui, Hawaii at 2:38pm to Oahu, Hawaii (1/2 hr.).  Next leg was Oahu to Atlanta, Georgia leaving at 5:40pm (8 hrs.).  Last leg was Atlanta to San Antonio, Texas leaving at 8:35am (2 hr.)  I am resolved that to get anywhere from Hawaii takes a long time. Air travel is what it is.  As much as I have traveled, I still get anxious on the plane.  This trip was no different. It was a week long conference and I was set to return on Sunday.  My 8:00am flight to Los Angeles was delayed to 1:00 pm.  Then possibly delayed again to 4:40pm.  There were people waiting at the gate from 6:00am in the morning.  A lot of us would miss our connecting flights to HOME.  A lot frayed nerves and impatient flyers.  Poor gate agent.
THEN, an amazing and energizing thing happened.  I was sitting and facing the tarmac listening to everyone complaining and trying to see when we all would get out of San Antonio.  It started with one person clapping, I thought it was a sarcastic gesture, but soon more and more people started clapping.  When I turned around, there were a group of soldiers walking through the airport and the people in our staging area were clapping for them.  In all of our frustration and anxiety, everyone still put aside all of that to show respect and appreciation to this group of soldiers.  I've seen it posted on Social Media, used in commercials and heard stories.  To be apart of this was an amazing thing. I felt the pride of these young soldiers and the genuine gratefulness of the people clapping.  It made my anxiety on reaching my final destination disappear. 
It renewed my faith in people and energized my pride for this United States. 
I'd like to thank all of the people serving in our Military for the service and sacrifice that you do for our country.  I'd also like to thank my fellow flyers for letting me be apart of this wonderful experience.

God Bless,

Mom

    We lost Mom this year.  She passed at 2:00 am in the hospital on October 5th.  I got the call at 7:00 am letting me know.  I had just visited with her the evening before.  It was just she and I in her hospital room.  I was stroking the hair away from her forehead.  We talked about her life and us 3 boys.  She was such a great woman.  We spoke more like friends than Mother and son.  As all Mother's are, she always put us first.  WE were her boys.  She always had a way of making sure that things were right with us, always caring.  At the funeral, so many people came up to me telling me how much of a good person Mom was.  She touched many lives beyond us boys.  It was then I realized that she was still taking care of us by giving us this extended "family".  As she touched their lives, they would continue to touch ours.

    Mom, I Love you a lot and I miss you even more.  I know that I will see you again someday with an even bigger extended family that I know you are building in Heaven.

The Gift of Baseball

    Earlier this year I was helping a customer whom I never met before.  We somehow got to talking about Baseball.  I had told him I played as a youth, a little college ball and eventually coached.  I explained how I loved the game and enjoyed helping young players excel as a coach.  After the transaction he left.  About 30 minutes later he returned with a brand new baseball.  He said that he felt compelled to purchase it and give it to me.  He stated that everytime I handle the baseball, he wanted me to think about the memories I had of baseball.  I had never met him before.

    Well, the year turned out to be a little rough.  I had a lot of "transitioning" at work.  I found myself with that baseball in my hand sitting at my desk.  I had to have knee surgery.  I took that baseball with me.  Mom passed and I was asked to give the eulogy.  Somehow, having that baseball in my hand kept me from totally breaking down and got me through the eulogy and service.

    A gift from a stranger that meant more than I'm sure he realizes.

    The gift of Baseball and kindness.

Blessings . . .

Blessings . . .

We celebrated our 28th anniversary last year. As we sat down to dinner and relected on the blessings of our years together, this was the sunset presented to us. Everyday God has blessed me with so much to be thankful for.

15 minutes of fame . . .

One day my Son and I were walking in the Mall. An old friend that I haven't seen in many years came up to me and we shook hands. We reminisced about old times and he asked me if I still played baseball. I answered that I stopped playing years ago. He stated that it was too bad because he always enjoyed watching me play, he felt that I made the games exciting. He also mentioned several awards that he remembered that I received during my career. I told him that I felt really fortunate to be part of good teams and blessed to have had a good career. I thanked him for those kind words and we parted.
My Son looked at me and said, "you haven't play baseball for 25 years and your friend remembers all of that?" I explained to him that I didn't play to get spotlight or awards. I played because I enjoyed it and that I was again fortunate to play with some really great players. My lesson to him was that everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, but if do the right things for the right reasons, your 15 minutes of fame can turn into a lifetime.
I want him to always do the right things for the right reasons, then when his 15 minutes of fame comes, he'll have a lifetime to enjoy it.
I hope you all are blessed with a lifetime of fame . . .

Become Who Your Supposed to Become

Several years ago my daughter was deciding which college to attend. She narrowed it down to our State college and Oregon State. She had come to me for advise. I got a little choked up, daddy's girl had grown up and was leaving home. She was my "little" girl and really didn't know what advise to give her.
Mmmmm, State College, 25 minute flight away or Oregon 5 hour flight and 2 hour drive away. We talked about her concerns. Her biggest worry was being away from family. I explained to her that family will always be there no matter what the distance. I told her that if she stayed here she would be my daughter, mom's daughter, Grandma's grand-daughter, etc., but if she went away to Oregon, she would grow and become the person that she is supposed to be. We had raised her to make the right decisions and now was the time that we trust her to be that person.
Well she graduated and now lives in Oregon. She just visited for the holidays and she has grown so much as a beautiful person. I can't even explain how happy and proud I am of her. Being away allowed her to make her own decisions based on what she thought was right.
She had become who she was supposed to become.

Many blessings to all of you!

More than Dirt

I was blessed to have baseball in my life from a very young age. It has given me a lot of experiences, gifts, friends and has helped "mold" who I am today. I was lucky to have made the local All-Star teams from Pee-Wee through High School. Have been a part of several State Champion Teams and even went to the Pony League World Series, where I was named to the "World" All-Star Team. Baseball helped me through College. It was a truly blessed ride. A few years ago, it came full circle and I was asked to help Coach. I can say that I learned just as much from the players as they did from me.

This is one such lesson . . .

We started the season coaching in a league where we as players had made a name for ourselves. We were anxious to test ourselves as coaches. The head coach and I played with or against each other since we were kids, the pitching coach had coached us and us position coaches were similarly connected. It was a tough season, but the kids came together at the right time and we took the Championship. We selected and coached an All-Star Team from our district. Again, we as coaches were to be tested. Even thought the players all came from different teams as well as some from our team, they gelled as a team. An even greater thing was that they came together as friends. We ended up winning the State Tournament, but lost in the Regionals. After returning, the team had a final end of season pot-luck. At this gathering the Head Coach passed out little containers that had dirt in them. He told us that this dirt came from the field that we won the State Championship on. He went on to explain that this was a special team and that was a special Championship and nobody can take that away. The dirt in the container represented that specialness. It was one of those quiet moments and you could tell everyone knew what he meant.

About a year after that the head coach called me at work and told me that the parents of one of the players on that team had called and asked if we could come to the Hospital ICU. Their son had gotten into a car accident and one of the passengers (another player) was killed. Their son was in ICU and they had asked if we could go in to see him. When we walked into the room, right on the medicine tray sat the container of dirt! The head coach and I both choked up but needed to be strong for our player. Upon leaving the room, the parents explained that it was the first thing he asked for when he became conscious. It was one of those moments that you could have heard a pin drop. I had learned a lesson from a player that what was in that container was . . .

more than DIRT.

Many Blessings to you all.