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Failing Well
Failure and success…both are a part of life. I’ve experienced both and can say (with great certainty) that I found more value in failing. Winning, achieving and being recognized for a job well done is a considerable accomplishment. One that deserves to be celebrated, but all that really is seen is the shiny, refined result.…
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Reality Bites
There is no way to sugarcoat it, life can be hard. These past three years are the prime example of doing the best you can with what you’ve got. And that is not an easy task, taking what you have and squeezing something positive out of it. Especially when you feel beaten down and tired…
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Letting Go
We live in a world that tells how to prepare appropriately for everything. How to get the best job, marry the best man, have the best pregnancy/birth/nursery. How to raise the best toddler, who will become the best child, who will then become the best man/woman who is then expected to figure out how to…
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Storms
I wrote a bit of a different version of this for my dad’s celebration of life…after the dust settled a bit I sat down and read it over and thought it would resonate with a few people. After all, life is all about weathering the storms. ********************************************************************* When I was little, I was afraid of…
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The Value of Losing
“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph Children are…
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My Resolution of Faith
One of my favorite songs in college was “Faith” by George Michael. Back then I know I loved it for the slightly raunchy lyrics and incredible beat that always helped me finish the last uphill mile of my runs. Now when I think of this song it has an entirely different meaning. It brings back…
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Keeping Up With the Joneses
I want to find out who the Joneses really are because I am tired of trying to keep up with them. I’m just trying to make it through most days without getting a stain on my white Target running shirt or pulling my hair back in such a way so no one can see the…
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In Search of Numen Lumen
At forty I still feel young, especially when I’m with my college girlfriends. Age and time seem to fade and it’s just like when we were back under the oaks, listening to the Indigo Girls and drinking cold beer under a Carolina blue sky. I long for those days again, when life was simple and…
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How Don Henley, Bain de Soleil and Agree Shampoo Saved My Summer
The past few months I’ve thought a lot about the summers before I headed off to college. I didn’t have a care in the world as I sat on the beach at the water’s edge, allowing the cool ocean to run over my perfectly painted toes. Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” played in the…
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Great Expectations
Think and Integrity were two words ingrained into my mind all through my Freshman year in High School. They were written neatly in thick, black marker on two oversized note cards and posted in the upper right and left corners of the chalk board. Yes, I said it, chalk board. My kids say that is…