You Can Do Anything If You Work Hard Enough. My father grew up in a family who believed that accomplishment was tied to working hard and he carried this value into raising me. Although education was stressed in our family, the primary driver for accomplishment was effort. Not only would he...
Back From the Edge When someone has lived at the edge where safety and danger intermix, where adrenalin pumps, and senses stay on high alert they can become addicted to the feeling. Some cannot stop and return again and again back into the lion’s den to fly higher, dive deeper,...
Some time ago Tom Cormier suggested that we might write our epitaphs - in twenty words. I have thought about that off and on. For the last year or so I've been keeping a "Spiritual Journal" containing some meditations and thoughts that come after reading a passage in The Bible, reflecting on...
I have spent years doing genealogy and one of my highlights is meeting another passionate researcher who is working on the same branch of our joint tree. We quickly pass from impersonal statistics to stories about our kids, our traditions, our childhood memories, and our theories on family riddles. Our commonalities...
“Do you remember asking me about Santa Claus?” my dad asked. Dad sat in his favorite, green chair, and I had pulled up a chair next to him in the living room of his apartment in the retirement home where he lived. He had lived to an old age, and our...
Sacred Messes I sighed at what a mess my life was in, and these thoughts intruded.”Life is messy. Birth, death, everything in between, it’s all messy. If it isn’t messy, it ain’t life.” “Can I use these finger paints?” My young daughter had asked. We were in someone else’s house,...
In springtime I step quietly as I stroll along the shores of the lake near my house. But it seems no matter how silent my step, the spring peepers know I’m there and stop peeping. If I am patient and stand still, however, soon enough they resume the chorus, a sure...
My grandfather loved to work in his shop repairing antique furniture and creating new things on his lathe. My aunt told me about walking into his shop one day; the radio was on and he was listening to opera. “How can you listen to that?” she asked. “Oh, but if you...
I wrote this story for my dad in his words several years before he died. Reading it again brings back memories of time we spent visiting together, both in person and during our daily phone calls. I can still hear his voice and the pleasure he received in recalling this, and...
MY SECRET TO A LONG AND HAPPY MARRIAGE I am probably the last person who should be giving marriage advice. Although I can proudly claim having been married for 46 years as of today, I attribute the reason for my happy marriage all to my lovely wife, Christine. Here is why. ...
What three lessons have I learned from family members (grandparents, aunts/uncles, parents)? Laughter is often the best medicine. Mom always taught us to laugh through difficult, painful or awkward times. This she usually did through example... more specifically, laughing through our difficult times, with or without us. I remember once, we...
Prompt o' the day is : List 5 life rules to live by that are uniquely yours. "Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men". -Douglas Bader I've never given any thought to the idea of "having rules to live by".. But, after some thought I...
Greetings, SCCAPG members - I trust everyone has renewed his/her membership for the upcoming year and made sure that your APG membership is current. This year (2012) some of our members have elected not to renew, either due to moves or changes in their genealogy involvement. This is to be expected...
JUDGMENT: “The ability to judge, make a decision or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively,and wisely,especially in matters affecting action; goodsense; discretion:” Or so say the guys who write dictionaries. Okay I can memorize that and tell you in seconds what judgment “is.” Given a few minutes I could probably write an...
In 1994 my wife, Diane, was called as the Relief Society President in our LDS ward. In preparation for her first Relief Society Visiting Conference (for female members of the church who have been called to visit the homes of the sisters in the ward each month), she was at a...
Thomas Wolfe, the author, wrote a book entitled “You Can’t Go Home Again.” Johnny Cash told us in song that “The old home town looks the same.” Cash, however, admits later in the song that he “was only dreaming.” Wolfe got it right. You can go to the “place” - but...
When I was an Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in one of the larger city schools in Ohio (way back in the early `80's) it was quite common for consultants and universities to schedule workshops and even offer courses that purported to tell we "leaders in Education" what was coming down the...
I have truly never made a New Year's resolution. Probably I gave some thought to one or two, but I knew I'd never keep them, so it was just dismissed from my mind! Consequently, there isn't much to write about this topic! Most likely I have reflected over the past year,...
It is difficult to limit myself to only three incredible changes that I have witnessed in my, now, 60 years. I have seen the invention of television, stereo record players, transistor radios, toaster ovens, electric flying pans, electric knives, microwave ovens, computers, iPods, iPads, MP3 players, central heat and air-conditioning, movie...
