Reflections are simply a way of laying all the facts on the table, organizing those learning pieces, there by firming up the impact on our cognition, and then applying the lessons to our work/life process.  Verbalizing this allows us to back track the trail of experiences, redefine or affirm our acceptance of the learning journey and visualize exactly what we are and where we are headed. 

The experience will last forever. Nobody needs to dust it and we don’t have to pack it the next time we move, because it lives in us. Experiences mark milestones in our lives unlike anything else.

We straddle time with the full moon holding hostage our need to celebrate change. Great human events are determined by such things that now seemingly stand still.

Education and access directly correlate to that 147 billion dollar price tag on obesity.  I assured them that our program is combatting these same issues with wisely placed government money.

I did a little research. According to Foodspin, who ranked the top 47 Halloween candies, Candy corn, to my great delight, ranked 47th, just under 46th- being hit by a car and 45th- A fistful of hair.

It began as soft, gentle anxiety about a looming future where my best friends chose to move on.  Then it gets closer, time slips even faster, and I begin to see the sad end of what’s been a marvelous run. 

It’s the devil in your head chasing you.  You’re racing yourself.  Don’t race the devil

When sailboats in those days ran out of wind, or wind was simply against them, they sat useless and dead in the water - just as many of us feel during windless times in life. 

I have a great deal of honor for the generations before me and unbridled love for the generations my wife and I now raise.

When dawn wicked over the Chesapeake the tattered stars and stripes still flew above the fort.  The British themselves were shocked to not see the Union Jack and soon gave up.  Key’s pride in America and the emotional events of watching from afar without the ability to even warn spawned his penning the poem - The Star-Spangled Banner, which now is our national anthem. 

It’s sunset and the Midwest sky is so large, animated and three-dimensional, that I forget for a minute that I’m on a train.  Large puffy white clouds, indicative of a sky after a front pushes through, individually round out as though they demand center stage, back lit by the sun, as to say, “Look at me”.

Planting a tree takes ‘paying it forward’ to a whole new level.  Most Oak trees take 20 years before they even produce acorns.  It’s a lifetime before they function on the human scale and their true impact is most likely seen only in the next generation and beyond.

In a few weeks I take the weekend off and help a new boat owner deliver his winter prize from South Haven to Leland, MI.  I have logged thousands of sea miles on boats designed almost exactly like this one and I felt quite at home during my original inspection a month back, but this will be the first time I have captained with the owner onboard as crew.

A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected

This morning for the first time in many I was at liberty to read for my own enjoyment and now maybe a little writing as well.  In the course of the day we decided to trot off to the great dunes of Southwest Michigan and take in a little hiking.

This morning I was reaching up into the coat closet gathering my gloves and winter hat for my morning run when the phone rang.  It was still early, 5:30, and I dashed to silence this beast before I woke the boys who were still sleeping just down the hall.  My friend, Chris, on the other end of a very crackly line blurted out “wake up”.