All is Okay

"And all your future lies beneath your hat." - John Oldham

He stood there, a man standing on the gravel drive way. He was near the house about half-way down towards the country road. I remember him as being tall and statuesque in his pressed pants and starched white shirt. The top button of his shirt was undone with no tie, the sleeves partly rolled up. His round wire-rim glasses reflected the afternoon sun as he smiled his wide smile towards me.

What I remember most is the fedora hat which covered his mostly bald head. It was probaby an attempt to keep his Irish skin from turning red. But he lifted his hat and waved to me. A gesture that seemed so comforting to me. A gesture I believed was meant only for me, his grandson.

I was only five years-old at the time as I stood in the open door-way of the corn crib. It seemed I had known Grandpa Gale for a lifetime. I guess I had known him for all my five years, but it seemed much longer. And now the wave of his hat seemed to say it would soon be over.

Soon Grandma and Grandpa would be moving to California. It would be quite some time before I would ever see them again. This final wave seemed to be telling me everything I needed to know. It was everything needed to guide me in life, all in the wave of the hat, telling me everything would be fine.

It is an image I can recall clearly in my mind to this very day. At the time so many years ago, I am sure the full impact back then was never fully comprehended. But as I recall the day, the moment, the image, I fully know that Grandpa was giving me his final bit of advice. A year later he would die in that far away place called California. A heart attack would take him from so many. Death would replace him with memories.

As I look back and recall the day, I am sure that regardless of what happens to me, everything will be okay. The wave of his hat telling me everything would be okay. It is an image he left for me, that I can go back and remind myself that yes, everything will be okay.

When even the cruelest of life's circumstance enters your day, think of Grandpa Gale and the wave of his hat. A smile given to tell you that things will get better; that life for you will be okay. Grandpa would want it that way not only for me, but for you as well.

Stay inspired my friends!

Blink of an Eye

"What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories." ~George Eliot

Two people unconnected by any thing in common cross paths one day. They see each other, they might acknowledge each other, they might even talk. They might just pass, but they see each other. There it was, a connection that takes place in the blink of any eye.

It is a connection which is instantly a good or a bad one.

It is a connection which creates a memory in each person.

Change occurs in that moment for both people. It is a change that can have a lifetime impact on the other. And whether we intend it to or not, the connection creates a memory. But what kind of memory are you leaving for others?

I have always tried to make the outcome of this connection a good one. I am not always successful at it. Such is life, but the point being that the memory we each have of the event creates an impression. It might be a pleasing one; it might be a not so good one. Yet we each individually play a part in what it will look like.

We can either create a great memory or allow it to be a bad one. Sometimes you will try and it just comes out all wrong. The reality is that you have the ability to effect what the memory will look like. Your impact, how you look, respond and talk to other people will greatly affect the connected memory.

Make the memory a wonderful connection; one that will bring something greater into another person's life and yours.

Stay inspired my friends.

Floating on Time

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." -Irish

On Sunday, my wife and I were able to witness a moment of transition for a husband, a family and friends that lost a wonderful woman by the name of Belinda. She loved the ocean and the peace it brought her. She would lay for hours upon her raft, floating in the emerald gulf waters. All of us would laugh, wondering when the day would come that she floated all of the way to Cuba on that raft.

This day would be that day in which she floated forever upon the currents of time. Her husband Mark would take her ashes out into the deep and allow the waters to carry her for eternity. Some may call it letting go, but I say it is a "locking in" of the memories. Those that we love, while no longer with us physically, they live on in our hearts, in our minds, in our memories.

These things we do in honor of our loved ones both honors them but more importantly establishes more lasting memories. Those are the memories that will keep us connected long after the pain of losing them leaves us. Those are the memories that will forever live on through us, through our children and generations of family.

Let your love of family and friends live forever.

Stay inspired my friends.

Baking Up A Great Year-end

"Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won't have to hunt for happiness." -William E. Gladstone

On a recent trip back to where I grew up, I had an opportunity to visit with family and friends. The town that I spent my early years is small in size but huge in heart. I guess you could say that of most any place, but it seems more so as these are the places I was a young boy.

My sister Pam took me out for coffee with her friends on a Saturday morning. The bakery in downtown Fremont is small, nice and comfy with the smells of fresh baked rolls and pastries. Alotta Brownies sits in the three hundred block of north Main Street. Just the sound of saying "Main Street" brings back wonderful memories. The conversation, coffee and cinnamon rolls pulled those moments from the back of my mind. If you ever happen through Fremont, Nebraska; take a moment to stop in and indulge your memories.

It was very shortly after the coffee and memories that I received a text message from my daughter Sarra. She was checking with me to ensure that I was going to make my annual Christmas batch of fudge. Why of course I am and somehow it has become traditional for me to do so.

I would really like to tell you that my fudge is the best in the world, top class and the thing that bakery chefs long to create. The fudge is typically good enough and I never seem to use the same recipe each year. I'm not creating a great fudge, that is for sure.

What I am recreating each year though is a tradition. It is something that will bring back memories for future generations when they smell fudge being made. When they wander into a bakery somewhere on their travels, a traditional memory will come flooding home to them. It will become a waypost in time as they make their way through life.

This time of year and in fact throughout the year, create traditions for those around you. These will be the lasting moments and memories that make the day easier. They are "you" living on within the hearts of others in the many years that will follow you.

And since tomorrow is Christmas Eve that will flow into Christmas Day, I want to wish all of my family, my sons, daughters, father, brothers, sister, in-laws and friends a Merry Christmas. There are those gone before us that I remember on these days as well; to all of them I have fond memories of many great past Christmas days.

And to you my friends out there, the happiest of Christmas Days and a safe holiday season. Stay inspired my friends.

September 11, 2001

"Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them." -George Eliot

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to San Francisco and Los Angeles after takeoff from Boston, Newark, and Washington, D.C. At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC) and at 9:03 a.m. another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC).

Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, under the control of four hijackers, crashed United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's ultimate target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House.

My purpose is not to talk of the politics, religious meanings behind the attacks. My purpose is to simply remember the 2,977 people that died.

We each hold onto the memory of those that have gone before us. Marcus Cicero said, "The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." Each of us hold the lives of our family and friends in our memory. Those lives speak through our own mouths, through our own words, they live on.

As we take a moment to reflect on Sunday, September 11, 2011, take those moments to reflect on the people. Let their lives speak volumes with the the memories you share. Let them live on in the words we speak.

Looking Back To Today

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." -Mark Twain

Recently a friend posted a few pictures of our college days on Facebook. He, myself and several other folks spent a couple of years together at Peru State College in Nebraska. A diverse lot of fellows that somehow seemed to put most differences aside and had a really great time.

Seeing the pictures started pulling on my strings of reminiscence. So off to the attic to pull out the worn pages and pictures of days gone by. Let me tell you it was a wonderful journey back in time. It was a view back that made me wonder how I had made it this far. It was also a view that explained exactly how I reached this wonderful point in life.

As I looked through the pages of old newspapers and pictures, I felt the ground beneath my feet. The path I was creating came from mistakes, success, boredom, shear terror and blind boldness. The cobblestones were laid out in front of me with friends and family. The journey was given to me by my faith.

It is easy to look at our life today and wonder if we made the right choices. It becomes easy to doubt what we did. But if you look back at the proving grounds of your past, you may find that life was simply teaching you how to live.

I remember the time shown in the picture above. We were young and ambitious College Student Activity Council kids. One of the hot regional bands was a group called Cricket. They had the greatest sound and energy one could expect and we had them for an early school year performance. An outdoor concert that requires all of the crazy logistics one could imagine. I'm not sure I even got to enjoy it and how a bunch of 19-year old kids pulled it off is beyond me.

So yes, you look back and wonder at how mad we were. But the mystery of whom we are now begins to disappear. We were simply trying to figure out our lives and learning about life along the way. Those experiences have brought us to where we are today. And I am happy for having gone through all of it.

It also excites me for what the next fifty years will bring. What will I look back to and see how the road was built. Will you look back and marvel at your own journey? Of course you will. Once you do, then look forward and envision the road you will take. That road is yours to take.

There is greatness to your life that makes all you have gone through well worth it. There is greatness to come in your life for you to pursue.

Making Waves

"That last day does not bring extinction to us, but change of place." ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

We are spending a final day with our new grand daughter, daughter and son-in-law. Its a last day filled with memories being made and enjoyment of those moments. Tomorrow we will travel back across the country to Atlanta and return to our home there. Tomorrow our precious little grand baby will be miles and miles away from us.

But calling this the last day is not really accurate. Today is really a day of lasting memories. It is a day of new memories being made and new waves being created across those miles of separation.

Each of us have the ability to continue making loving memories whether next door or by several states. Our last day together is only a last day for one memory. It is also the start of so many more.

Make waves of memories regardless of the distance. Make waves that will reach out to others around you. Make waves that will last a lifetime.

Diary of a Memory

"Memory...is the diary that we all carry about with us." ~Oscar Wilde

Years ago, a film came out called Mary Poppins. It became another Disney classic based upon the books by P. L. Travers. It remains to this day a favorite of mine.

As I walk the streets of London this week during a business trip, the memories of past visits come to mind. I walk past St. Pauls Cathedral and it reminds me of a song from that movie. The song was sung by Mary Poppins and is referred to as the tuppence a bag song. It was of the old woman sitting on the steps of St. Pauls Cathedral selling bags of bread crumbs to feed the birds.

I am also reminded of the cathedral's triumphant survival of the air raids on London during World War II. Truly remarkable that it survived.

And then I remember back to only a few years ago that my wife visited London with me. I see the places we walked and shared with each other and great memories flood back in my mind. She could not be with me this time, but the memories are here with me today as if she were as well.

One day again, we will share the streets of London with each other. New memories will be formed into the diary of my mind. Find your own memories and replay them as if reading the diary of your life. Live life well and create new memories with the ones you love.