Behind Every Good Woman is a Pirate

Nancy recently received an award from Honda for being a Prestigious Dealer this award is only given to the top few percent in the country.

Then over the past weekend she had a meeting with the President of Honda this does not happen very often for any dealer for any franchise.

See I can only be me because my other half makes me better, love her proud of her.

Memorial Day

I am always amazed at the young that choose to serve their country. I was to self absorbed at that time in my life to say I will give you at least four years, do things others won’t, be away from my family and possibly lay down my life for my country.

Thank you to everyone who has made this choice and even a bigger thanks to those who did not come home or will not come home. You are all in my prayers God Speed.

I am not that smart #2

Karma; I have written on this subject before but while cleaning up my Blog I lost a few of the posts.

I am a big Karma guy I understand it and use it to my benefit there are a million versions of it out there by different names and rules but it is one of my best answers to people on how to be successful.

There is a great book that became popular via Oprah a while back that if you study it and work it I promise your life will change for the better it is called The Secret I have understood its teaching’s for years before the book came out and view it has one of many universal laws by a different name that must be followed.

Wicca believes what ever energy you put out in the world will come back three fold. I do not follow Wicca but they absolutely got this right. I personally know of two millionaires that try and give their money away and it just keeps coming back to them increased. While on the other hand I am witnessing two other people who have done some pretty shitty things in their life’s and guess what all of the sudden the things that they value IE not the right things are failing them.

I like Karma it is life’s way of saying leave the bad folks to me you stay out of it and I will handle them later on my time line not yours. Mean while you go on doing good in the world and I will handle that too on my time line your rewards may not be what you think you need but they become what we needed most.

I am not that smart #1

I am not sure I am capable of writing what has been on my mind for the last few weeks the two topics are deeper than I am literate.

First is destiny vs. free choice we all come to paths in the road where we can go in a couple of direction’s it could be jobs, relationships, education so many things. On my mind lately has been my relationship’s.

My first real relationship failed and I think what if it had not? I now have a wife, three kids and extended family members that I could not live with out they feel to me as though they were always meant to be there. Almost like life said ok you were in the first relationship to become a better person to raise the family you were meant to raise.

My wife was in a serious relationship before me and it too failed were we suppose to be where we are now or did it just happen by accident? Think of the chain reaction in other life’s my first relationship and how those lives’s changed, Nancy’s first and those life’s changed, all of the kids that have came out of these marriages and the life’s that they will touch and the future generations from there.

I want to believe that I make my destiny and make my choices but then I look at how life works out when you let it and I think maybe someone out there has a better plan than mine my life is a wonderful ride sure it has its ups and downs and isn’t perfect but I wouldn’t want any other. Let’s go with life is written in the stars for today I may change my mind later but at forty eight I like the thought that my guiding spirit has my back.

Id rather not

The easy thing to do is usually not the right thing to do, and the right thing is usually not the easy thing to do. Most every time something needs done that is uncomfortable the back of my mind kicks in and says do this it is the right thing but after I am done, I agonize about it for hours and feel bad. I am not one to worry about doing something that is difficult and I tend to jump in quick with both feet but I am always upset afterwards even when I know it needed to be done. Like telling a loved one they are wrong I hate that feeling afterwards. I hate to correct my kids I want them to have the freedom to do the right thing and usually they do but every now and then I need to be the adult. I suck at that I am a better let it be kind of guy and life will work it out how ever this just doesn’t always seem to happen and I do the right thing and soon after I find myself on the computer mumbling incoherent babble such as this.

Simple Minds

How long will you be remembered? I think this question may scare me the most about me. I hate the thought of being forgotten yet we will be let me prove how quickly. We all have four great grand parents without heavy thought, looking it up or asking someone name all four of your great grand parents first and last name. I am sure there are a few of you that can but most of us are lucky if we can name one of them. I had a great grand mother who lived a long life and I loved dearly she is the only one I can name. Let’s say I am wrong and you get all four named correctly and quickly. I am sure you can’t name all four great great grand parents. So there it is about three and a half generations if we are fortunate and then we are forgotten.

Not a real happy thought but maybe we touch a life or bring a life to be that is a game changer in the world and just maybe that is our purpose? I hope to at least do that and I am sure I already have but still I want to be remembered. Is that vain or just a normal thought for someone who enjoys life?

Morning Coffee

While getting ready to pull away from the concourse the flight attendant made the obligatory announcement to turn off all electronics. By this point I was deep in my book while the old guy beside me was reading his new Ipad. He either did not realize the Ipad counted as an electronic device or did not care but either way the stewardess needed to do her job also so while she was passing by she reminded him to turn it off. Being the old fart that he was I noticed his displeasure with this as I chuckled to myself. Score one for those of us who still like to read old school books and news papers.

News papers are all but bankrupt shame on them for giving their service away for free on the Internet while charging for home delivery. What did they think; hay here is an idea let’s give away our product and we will make more money? The truth is they felt their subscriptions would go up and in turn they could sell more advertising dumb asses. Today’s kids are loaded with instant information in today’s electronic world they have no need for a paper. Or do they, I wake up happy to grab a cup of coffee sit with the paper at the table and discuss the events of the day with my wife. Even if it is going to be a busy morning, just a few quite minuets in thought and the company of Nancy is rewarding. You guys will miss this opportunity when it is all gone.

I brought up the Ipad because I just don’t get the need for everything to be instant. I like going to a book store and finding that perfect read, I like passing it on and some one sharing theirs with me it is called being SOCIAL. Today everyone is so connected Twitter, Face book, Blog, The Web, Text Message, Email, Cell Phone and so on. Yet the funny thing is most people under twenty one have lost an ability to look some one in the eye and say: I am mad, I am sad, you are hot, or you suck. Oh they all can send an electric message and rail but walk up to them face to face and call them out on what they sent electronically and watch as their weakly developed personalities crumble.

I use all of the above devices way to much but I will always be able to look at some one figure out what they need put it together and deliver it all with a hand shake not a hundred emails and contracts but human contact. Today’s world is great and I use every tool available to me but I still want to look some one in the eye and communicate that is where you will see their soul.

Real Truth

A friend of mine foster parents children with different needs he is a real cool guy. Some time back he told me a story that has always stuck with me.


One day while letting his then ten year old little girl out of the car to go to school another young student standing by the curb asked her “why is your daddy white and your black?” my buddy started to step in but before he could say anything his daughter answered “Because that’s how God worked it out.” And she went on her way.

I like this story on several levels but mainly just because her answer was so pure that there was no issue. I wish I could always just answer straight with no concern for what I think some one wants to hear vs. what they need to hear.

Baby’s Gotta Fly

I have baby birds every year at my house; I am a total girl about them I love to watch them grow. I meant to get pictures this time oops. This week end they flew the nest and I watched as momma bird circled in a fit for hours I wanted to tell her I know how you feel.

My youngest will start High School next year, my middle son will be a Sr and just had his prom last week and my oldest just graduated from Butler. Hey you guys slow down what is the hurry?

My garden has taken root after frost bite and Pearl well she is Pearl!

We want them to grow up into good people and we invest every thing we have in doing that and then when they do its like where did my baby’s go?

I Love you guys

Dad

Kaitlyn, Dream Big Dreams and Never Ever Give Up!

I do not describe myself as a tough guy but I have raced motorcycles, ran demolition derby cars, went up in a hot air balloon 10k feet, summated mountains, rock climbed, fought with fighters twice my size, trained with what I call tough guys, started a bar brawl and many other thrill adventures but today I cried.

Nancy said to me while I was at work roughly twenty three years ago “I am pregnant” the first thought to run through my mind was I can’t raise a child I am one, the second thought was fear I do not want to screw this up my nature about important moments is to make light of them, I could not this time I cried.

When they place your child in your arms instant love no other thought and you cry.

As she grows you worry, you scream, you talk, you punish, you teach, you say the wrong things and when you get lucky you say the right things and you cry.

When her fiancé asks you for her hand you cry –you just don’t let him see.-

Then this day comes May 8th 2010 she graduates with two degrees from Butler University and you watch all the ceremony with great pride so much more pride than any pride you have ever had in your personal life because this moment is big and some how you know she is going to be great and you cry.

A Pirate Looks At 50

I like fifty not that I am there I still have 23 months left to go. But life seems easier now then it did a ways back. I was going to be dead by thirty three just ask the twenty three year old ghost of me as for fifty my God don’t those people live in nursing homes and poop their pants?

I think clearer now I believe because I no longer care what someone thinks of me I would prefer that people like me, but if they don’t so what impressing someone is no longer a thrill.

The aches and pains are more and I am sure they will continue to multiply. I am in good shape but I have banged myself up a few times over the years. I remember hearing people say things when I was younger like they knew it was going to rain or it was really cold out side because they could feel it in their bones. I always thought bull shit. Guess what its true my back will let me know every weather change accurately.

But life is easy when you have family and friends around to share a laugh, a beer or just sit and watch the day go by. I have learned that ninety percent of what I use to worry about never happened and the other ten percent can’t be changed. I have learned that I can manipulate a situation to get an outcome that I want but if I just let life handle it things turn out much better. I worked in Corporate America for twenty six years and have had impressive titles, huge salaries and lots of yes men below me but you know what washing a window and seeing your result right then has its rewards also not mention going home tired and sore vs. wore out and pissed off.

So with that said I want to share my favorite lyrics with all the 2010 Graduates:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you can imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't know.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And then you do you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look like 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more that it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Wear Sunscreen
by Mary Schmich

All Pirates need their Vessels just picked up mine.

“Tell me, are you a Christian, child?” And I said “Man I am tonight”

Mary wrote: “Christians are like tea bags......you don't know how strong you are till you're put in hot water!”

I am not sure it is just Christians but people in general, there are times I stand for what I believe and am so proud of myself when I do and yet there are other times I do not speak up when maybe I should have.

I view most Christians with a suspicious eye mainly because they are Christians when it is convenient for them and all most always in a situation when they can judge someone else. Mind you I do not see all Christians this way. I have a friend in my life that I do not agree with in almost any belief she has political, racial or religious but I respect her because she stands for her beliefs and listens to mine.

Christianity is not the largest religion on the planet yet they have no room in their world for others to be possibly correct. Are they strong in their convictions or just intolerant of others with a different belief?

Prayer is very important to me I pray every day, I try to go outside in a private place as often as I can and speak to my guiding spirit as much as possible. I claim to never pray for myself but the truth is I pray for my family and my country which are the two most important things in my life so I guess I do pray for myself. I am very good at asking for each to choose the correct paths and to be protected in their pursuits. I try not to ask for specific results because I have found that the result that I want is usually not the result that is really needed this is a tough thing to do as I am as selfish as the next guy.

I am rambling with out true direction because I think it is important for each of us to have faith in a higher power, but it is not my place to tell you what to believe. We all have our strong moments and we all have those times we would like a do over, the good news is if your heart is in the right place I think others notice.