Read This Post Carefully…

…and consider changing your approach.

My Grandfather, my Mom’s father, was an amazing man.  A war veteran and a New York City firefighter.  But these two experiences didn’t necessarily match up with his ever so gentle approach to people.  A gentle and engaging soul.  I loved him dearly.

When my grandmother died some years ago, I flew down to Florida to attend her funeral and my approach to addressing death changed forever.  I never told my Grandfather this before he died but now, in his name, I share it with you.  After the funeral we were back at his house and he brought me into his bedroom.  He first showed me that he kept my number in his wallet because he thought I was a good person to talk to and then with his lip quivering he said this, “Ted, people keep telling me that I should be grateful that I had so many years with Grandma, but what they don’t understand is that it is just many more years to miss.” Continue reading “Read This Post Carefully…”

Who are YOU?…Take 2

In my last last post I challenged you to pay attention to who you truly are.  Not just pay attention but to think about who you want to be…how you want to be perceived.  I even went so far to ask you to picture yourself at your own funeral and ask yourself some questions around that.  Since posting that I have l done some more reflection around this.  Most of my reflection has been centered around the fact that I have been seeing a lot of campaigns on TV and social media  that are focused on “What is your why?” or “Find your WHY”.  This obviously is similiar to my last post.  However….

Continue reading “Who are YOU?…Take 2”

Terror! Feeling Helpless. We are Not.

Terrorism.  I am not dismissing international terrorism.  How could I?  The heaviness of it.  The loss of life.  The injustice.  The deep sense of fear it instill in most of us.  The anger.  The sadness. The feeling of helplessness.

However, in the last week the alerts on my phone, the news, the regular shows being disrupted, and the radio have been dominated by terrorism.  Domestic terrorism.  In our own backyards.  Committed by our neighbors.  And in my mind, they create all the above emotions.  Perhaps tenfold as we try to wrap our heads around what is going on in our country.  That is if we have not become numb to it or  accepting these happenings as the norm. Can you actually name all the mass shootings that have happened in the past year?  I can’t but there was a time that I could.  A time that I miss.  That I long for.  A time that I surely would have held my wife and kids tighter but not as tight as I want to hold them right now.  It has gotten out of control.

It sounds cheap to say, my thoughts and prayers are with the families affected in just the last week by the two shootings….and all of these tradgedies.  But they are.  As I write this and break a major rule I have for myself and my family…being present…I am trying to concentrate while I listen two my two beautiful sons “be brothers”.  I would not normally do this (step into my den during family time) but I refuse to render myself or you helpless, because I have to protect them in anyway I can. Continue reading “Terror! Feeling Helpless. We are Not.”