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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

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

  Coaching, Mentoring and Guiding  Think about the people that have taught, coached, guided, mentored and helped shape who you are through their leadership in your life.  I have been fortunate to have some of the best mentors, coaches and peers anyone could ask for throughout my career in the business world, teaching and coaching.  I learned so much from these special people that helped shape who I am as a coach, mentor and guide for others.  As I have gotten older and closer to retirement age my priorities have changed quite a bit and my goals are a bit different. I can also say on the reverse side that I have learned how not to coach, mentor and guide people from some peers, coaches, friends, relatives and others along the way.  I am not saying they were particularly bad overall at what they did, in fact, most of them were solid people with good intentions.  They just had some weaknesses in their planning, implementation or process of leading people.  I have strived to be the best I

  This week I have been working with my students in class on social emotional skills to help them grow their ability to get along better with peers at school, online and at home.  As a veteran teacher I have seen my fair share of conflicts between students, staff and their peers.  Most of the conflicts are honestly teenage drama that revolves around he said, she said stuff.  In today's world of the instant messaging on the thousands of applications things can escalate quickly.  It is not just teenagers though, I see here and there husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends going back and forth arguing their points or posting stuff in an attempt to start trouble or fuel the fire.  By the way, my students refer to Facebook as the application for (older people).  I guess I am old because I have a Facebook page. Anyways, back to the drama and how to resolve it.  My students have found out that as soon as they tell me what is happening, the first thing I ask them is did you see it,

Today I am writing about character and the positive and negative traits that can emerge in people over the period of years of training and practice.  You may ask, how does training and practice evolve into positive character traits or create negative character flaws?  Well, just like preparing for a sports event, a singing competition, a career in medicine and all the other things we want to master and win at.   We must also prepare for being a person of great character so we carry ourselves in a positive manner when dealing with family, business and personal relationships.  We train ourselves through habits and those habits will eventually bring forth a positive or negative character in us.  Today in class I gave a presentation to my high school students about character and how it can play a major role in the development of their family, work and personal lives. I went to my main source of knowledge to see what the bible said about character and its role in our lives.  In Proverbs 6: