Better late than never… someone once told me. Do you ever wonder who comes up with these sayings? Wouldn’t it be cool to be THE ONE who made a saying like this fashionable and timeless? I mean come on… if the “where’s the beef” lady can live on forever with a saying like that, I’m sure one of us can think of something clever. Someone had to say it first, right? BTW: If you feel a sudden burst of inspiration, please share… I would love to say I knew the person who coined the phrase “all we are is dust in the wind, dude” or something like that. 

Why Am I Thankful? I’m sure this question was on all your minds this past week. For me, I found out something interesting as I traveled back to Atlanta, Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Do you ever wonder what habits, thoughts, and lessons your kids are TRULY picking up from you? I know my wife, Jodi and I think about this a lot. Matter of fact, I can remember vividly when our daughter, Sage, was a toddler and we were “teaching” her about right and wrong, do’s and don’ts, the good, the bad, the ugly… you know, the typical parenting stuff you read in What To Expect: The Toddler Years.  Well… let’s just say if we had more time to think BEFORE we acted we might have handled this particular situation a tad bit differently. After our failed parenting session, I said to Jodi, “I think we just gave Sage some good stuff for her first therapy session. Forget the college fund; we need to setup a therapy fund.” Of course we chuckled at each other and committed to improving ourselves so this would not happen again.

As Sage has moved into her upper elementary years, there’s a whole new set of rules for parenting.  Who knew? Maybe you did, but we sure did not. NOW…

Being a Buckeye (to the lay person, this means I grew up in Ohio)… I was no stranger to the four (4) seasons of the year. Winter always gave us a white blankety landscape where we could ride on lunch trays (our version of sleds) down a hill; barrel down bigger hills on skis; ice skate on ponds, build snow forts and snowmen, have outrageous snowball fights, and my favorite – drink hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows! In Spring, the days would become warmer and longer and flowers would brighten the landscape; we would hunt for Easter eggs, play tag in the rain, throw a ball around with some friends, roll down a grassy hill and then just lay there looking at the clouds trying to figure out what they look like. All this fun was Spring’s way of announcing the promise of summer which would drive excitement into every school child. Then you would hear the ring of the Ice Cream truck, and you knew Summer was here! This meant you would have ALL DAY to do nothing, if you wanted… OR, all day to do EVERYTHING:  swimming, baseball, tennis, kick the can, picnics in the park, camping, fishing, bike rides… <takes a breath>… 

So today, the pool guys were here to maintain our pool. They come once a week and I always go out of my way to say hola (hello) and como estas (how are you) and maybe even esto es un bonita dia (this is a beautiful day). They only speak Spanish and me… well, I’m still learning so I want to try and communicate with them in their language.

They began to work on the pool. As I sat in my office, I heard one of them loudly say “hola.” So I walked onto the 3rd floor terrace and said what anyone would say, “hola.” And so, our conversation began. What I heard next was beautifully spoken Spanish with amazing accents and inflection. Immediately I thought, “Wow, they sound awesome. I can’t wait to speak Spanish like that.” By the time I had this thought; they were waiting for a response from me. Uh Oh!

“OH thE wAys And dAys wE will stAnd in A linE, WE will stAnd in A linE TimE AftEr TimE.” Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, doesn’t it? Take just a moment and think about ALL THE TIMES you have stood in a line… Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! …which IS actually a REAL Dr. Seuss book and one of my favorites because it contains one of Dr. Seuss’s solid-gold morals, the joy of letting one’s imagination rip.

OK… the cat’s out of the bag (no pun intended), NOW you all know where I get my inspiration… from Dr. Seuss and lots of caffeine. Which reminds me… if you want to have some fun at a party, pull out a Dr. Seuss book and read it aloud as fast as you can. Trust me… belly laughing will ensue.

 Let’s get back to standing in lines. Seriously now, just take a moment and think about ALL THE TIMES you have stood in a line… just waiting. Here are a few that came to MY mind.