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Today I am writing about being a teacher and thinking back on my career especially when it started.  We go to college and learn our subject matter, take those fancy classes about classroom management, fundamentals of teaching and all those other elective classes to prepare to go conquer the world and be the best teacher we can possibly be.  Prior to graduation you serve an intern with a veteran teacher and in a short semester you are off into the field at your first job.  I am not discounting all the training, classes and prior knowledge and experience brought into that first job.  It is a plus and helps set a foundation for a bright future, one that regardless of what some people think is not easy, very rewarding and comes from the heart. Over the years we have all been through tons of training, read books, attended seminars and continued our education to become the most qualified teacher, mentor, facilitator, administrator, media specialist, lead teacher, and all the other opportunit

I am borrowing todays blog post idea from a friend that posted a picture online today about men and pocket knives.  Looking back I think about my first pocket knife my dad gave me when I was just a wee little fella back in the 1970's.  It was one of his older model "Old Timers" and a pocket knife I still have in my collection of hundreds today.  It is worn, tattered and rough looking, but it is sharp and will lay your skin open really quickly if mishandled.  My brothers and I have knives that belonged to our granddads, dad and uncles and we cherish those finely crafted pieces of wood and steel.  They are priceless to us and we wouldn't take anything for them.   You see a pocket knife is a right of passage for young boys and merging young men.  To be given a pocket knife is a like a ticket to responsibility, one that has to be taken very seriously and with caution.  I have had my fair share of cuts from whittling on wood, carving my name into a tree or just simply doin

I took a few days off from blogging as I have been recovering from Covid 19 over the Christmas Holidays.  I am writing this to tell my story of the battle I fought with Covid and how it has impacted me and the family this past week and a half.  Since Covid hit we have been very focused on avoiding it the best we could and took precautions to not contract it.  That all changed a week and half ago as we were exposed to someone that did not know they were a carrier and within a few days the wife and I started feeling bad and suspected that we may have contracted it just prior to the Holidays.  It started out like a common cold with runny nose, chest congestion and stomach ache.  We tried for three days to find a testing site close to the house and eventually drove down the road about forty five minutes to be rapid tested.  We were steadily getting sicker and within  a few days of the test we got the results back that we were positive for the virus.  At this point we cancelled Christmas wi

My wife and I have grown kids and they are always asking us what we want for Christmas.  Many parents out there of grown children can relate to this dilemma and we all probably give the same answer over and over.  We say "I don't know", "I don't want anything", "I don't need anything", or my favorite which is "I just want to be with you on Christmas day".  I sometimes even tell them "my two front teeth" just to get them riled up.  My wife and I are blessed and we really do not have anything on a list that we need.  Heck, we all have online ordering and next day delivery for all those things we want to buy.  I wrote yesterday about A Covid Christmas which is what we are celebrating this year as we all have Covid and are separated for the Holidays.   We all have family traditions like gathering, eating, fellowshipping and sharing gifts with family and friends.  For years we have always opened one present Christmas eve as a fa

This week my wife and I tested positive for the Covid 19 virus and are locked down at home for the Christmas Holidays.  We have been very careful to avoid people, mostly staying at home and using proper protective measures for months.  Our oldest daughter has it also and is stuck in Florida for the Holidays, while our youngest daughter is finishing up her covid lockdown from being positive a few weeks ago.  We have called all the family to advise that we cannot meet with them on Christmas day to eat breakfast, open presents, fellowship and most importantly celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   This however does not mean that Christmas cannot be just as special because we will get together in a week or so when everything clears up and everyone is well enough to be safe to gather.  This Christmas will be unlike any we have ever experienced with covid lockdowns, infection rates spiking and the need to being safer than ever.  People are stuck at home, in nursing facili

Today I am writing about seven things that I look back on that I should have done a bit different when I was twenty.  Thirty four years later I have learned many lessons in life and am grateful for those lessons.  Setbacks, disappointments, tragedies, and unexpected life events allow us to grow and become who we are.  These events give us wisdom to share with our children and the next generation.  These events make us tough skinned and give us direction to overcome obstacles.  I am mostly satisfied with the way things have worked out so far, but looking back I now see doing these may have opened doors for me, my family and prepared me for life as an adult. 1- Get rid of toxic people- We all have family, friends and co-workers that we know are energy vampires.  We do not look forward to being around them or hanging out with them.  These negative people drain you and will hold you back with their poor pitiful me routine.  Get rid of them, see them less often or whatever it takes to keep

 Today I am writing about toxic relationships that people have and how they destroy families, friendships, marriages and cause chaos.  I have been fortunate in my life to find a loving and wonderful wife that seeks a great relationship with me.  We get along mostly, disagree at times, but in the end we are together and strong.  I see this in many of my friends and family as well.  Positive, supporting and loving relationships that are far from perfect, but in the scheme of things are solid.  Then comes the reason I am writing this today as I see so many toxic relationships, people unhappy, angry, upset and constantly fighting. These are very unhealthy and will eventually destroy the relationship, create hostility and resentment which leads to divorce, breaking up or worse (possible abuse).  I put together a quick list of five warning signs you should avoid once you see them come to light.  As soon as one of these pops up, you best get out now or eventually face chaos, fighting, anger a

** Please Read All of this top to bottom and try what I have given you.  I promise it will help you (if you are open to cleansing) and really focus on it.  I would appreciate any feedback on the process and any comments that you would like to leave for me and my readers **.  Today I am giving you a relaxation activity designed to help you cleanse your mind, body and soul of open wounds from our past. These inhibitors of your future are sitting behind open doors constantly reminding you of your past, pestering you about your current situation and holding you back from a bright future.  These doors are open and flowing negative energy into your life and are holding you back from being the wonderful person God created you to be.  To get rid of these bad memories, negative thoughts, relationship issues, anger, fear, envy, self-loathing, pride fullness, disappointments and anything else standing in your future you must put them behind you.   Most of these events, emotions, and internalized

  Recently I had a friend ask me if I thought that dogs and cats went to heaven.  Before I could answer the question another man sitting near told her that the bible makes no mention of animals going to heaven. My personal opinion is that dogs and cats have souls and they are special in Gods eyes as animals are mentioned all throughout the bible.  If you do some research you will find a very long list of animals if listed A-Z are too numerous for me to put on this posting.  I will highlight several of them and where they are located in the bible if you would like to reference and read about it. We love our critters, dogs, cats, hamsters, cows, pigs, and all those other things people call pets.  I have never had anything other than dogs, a few cats, some fish and a hamster or two.   My favorite are dogs, yes I am a dog lover and we currently have three grand dogs that we enjoy greatly.  We all come to love them and enjoy spending time watching them gallop, play, fight, roll around with

  Today I am writing about remote learning and giving some basic ideas and tips on how as parents we can not only survive but thrive during this Covid 19 mess.  As a career teacher it has been a daily learning experience for myself and my students.  It is up and down roller coaster ride of positives, negatives and in between.  With the various stages of Covid, spikes, slow downs and the gaps in between kids have learned 100% online, hybrid learning, and some even in class fulltime.  It is frustrating as a teacher and parent as it has added even more stress, anxiety, and tasks to our daily schedules that are already jam packed. I did some research and put together a simple list of things that have worked for me as a teacher and have helped the students and parents I teach to do a good job of maintaining grades, assignments, and online schedules.  It has been very challenging and is not the best option for most kids, but it is what it is for now.  As parents and teachers our options are

Today I am writing about woman and their super powers.  I am writing this in honor of my wonderful talented and beautiful wife Cindy and daughters Taylor and Brooke.  Women are super at being assertive, empathetic, powerful, fabulous, beautiful, caring, loving, inspired, hard working, dedicated, disciplined, healing, forgiving, courageous, adaptable and so many other traits us men need in our lives.  I can only speak for myself when I say, I would be lost without my wife and daughters.  They are the rocks in my house and keep me from doing stupid guy stuff all the time.   Women have super powers that are hard to explain at times.  These super powers come out at a moments notice and just amaze people.  I know my wife and daughters have them so I came up with a list of the different role model super women action figures to highlight just how great women can be and are in our lives.  Women are special, unique and should be treated as such.  I must admit that I am still learning about wome

Today I was thinking about some recent changes in my life that are spiritual, mental and emotional.  These changes are all positive and something that cannot be seen by the eye.  Sure, people may be able to sense or see a difference in a persons attitude or behavior.  However, changes like these are internal and occur within ourselves in the heart, mind and soul.  These are not tangible things one can touch and therefore hard to describe to people at times.   I have had a spiritual awakening of sorts is the best way to describe what is occurring within me and to me.  As a good friend described her similar changes to me as "Shedding my old skin".  That made perfect sense to me and got me to thinking about belief and how it guides our lives, actions, behaviors and reactions to events. I started thinking about Christmas and the gifts we all receive during the Holidays and celebrations.   I am not talking about the gifts under the tree as those are tangible things we can see, fee

This weekend my wife and I went to Myrtle Beach to buy an ornament at our favorite Christmas store.  The store is at Barefoot Landing as is called the Christmas Mouse.  It has every kind of decoration and ornament a person would want.  About every kind of interest from traditional, country, city, sports, hobbies and about anything one would want.  We have been going to this store for twenty years or more to get ornaments for our family tree.  Ornaments are a tradition in our family and we have filled the family tree up with them at this point. The store brings back memories of traveling to the beach with my family, mom and dad and friends.  We always find time to go by the Christmas Mouse and grab some ornaments.  The store smells so good with all the wonderful greenery, candles, and traditional Christmas smells that reminds us that the Holiday is upon us.  Even if you go in the summer time when most people head to the beach, it makes you feel Christmas in July and those special memori

I was coaching at my old high school in 2009 and in the middle of the season I suddenly lost my dad. My dad was a 30 year retired police officer who also served over 30 years volunteering at the local high school as president, vice president and secretary of the boosters club.  My mom and dad along with several great parents had helped raise millions of dollars and build most of the very nice athletic facilities the school has today.  They loved to go to football games home or away.  For over thirty years on Friday night if they were not rotating in the concession stand they sat in the same seats at home games every Friday night.  My dad sat on the top row, on the brick at the corner.  I can see him now sitting there watching me, my brothers, cousins, and nephews playing football on Fridays.   Dad and mom were road warriors and followed the football team wherever they played.  They went to every game home or away for a minimum of 30 seasons. Even when their health started to fail them,

 Today I am continuing my series of stories about my family and today I am focusing on a true and hopefully funny story about my Dad.  Please enjoy and share! Lady Speeding, Rookie Cop, Got to Go Right Now Dad told us a story about a woman that was speeding one day. He was new to the police force and had just been let loose as a patrol officer.  He was patrolling a major road in town and a lady drove by him going 55 in a 35.  He instantly turned his car around and turned on his blue lights in hot pursuit of the speed demon flying down the road.  He got behind this lady and flashed his lights in an attempt to stop her.  She kept going and actually sped up so he wasn't quite sure what to do as a new cop, so he called it in.  They told him to continue pursuit and follow her, stay in radio contact and help was on the way to assist him. He stayed in pursuit for several blocks and the woman suddenly pulled over slamming on her brakes to stop making him almost hit her car.  He swerved to

Right After Church- When I was a kid growing up we would all go to church on Sunday and then head straight over to my Grandma Smiths house and spend all afternoon eating lunch, playing outside, watching football and fellowshipping with family and friends.  When I say family and friends, I mean the entire extended family of at least 20-30 people.  My grandparents were not rich so I do not know how they fed all of us every week like that.  We did have some great fresh garden veggies, potatoes and corn that was grown on the property.  It was the coolest place to go and spend time growing up.  We had all the outdoor activity a child or teenager needed.   Summertime Fun And Sports- Summer time was my favorite season as the grass was nice and green and much softer to land on when your cousins and brothers piled on top of you playing tackle football.  Of course, we played with no pads and you got busted up good on most Sundays.  We played every sport you can think of, football, soccer, softba

Sisterly Love- My mom and her older sister, my Aunt Beona were two of the most wonderful people one could ever know.  My family, immediate friends and so many others were touched by these ladies in so many ways.  Both of these wonderful ladies have went on to be with God and I know they are now watching over their kids, families and others.  They talked everyday on the phone, regardless of what happened or may have come up they spoke everyday.  My mom would call over and ask to speak to Beona and of course, my Uncle Robert would answer the phone and proceed to give her a hard time about calling and pick at her.  Mom loved to talk to Robert and looked forward to giving him a little of his quick wit right back to him on those phone calls.  Robert didn't hear very well so the television would be turned up to about maximum volume if you called or stopped by to visit with them.  You would have to knock on the door several times for him to hear you.  One thing is the door was cracked abo