Certain images do not leave me. I have a few of them locked in my mind forever. The most recent one inspired an earlier blog post about our four white Swiss shepherds guiding a newly born fawn to safety (to Sherry sitting on the front steps of our house). I received a lot of …
One thing confuses me like crazy. For many of my adult years, money was tight. I was barely getting by and struggling to meet my family’s needs while starting new business ventures. One time, I had a new regional sports magazine off the ground. Annual subscriptions were …
Over the last 15 years or so of running The Change Companies, I often went back to asking myself: what is “The One Big Thing” I need to focus on? Above all else, what should capture the majority of my time for this day or for this year? This strategy often worked. It became …
I don’t care what they say – how my kids and younger friends snort and giggle at me. I’m going to keep using cash to pay for almost everything. And when I receive big bills for insurance, medical care and such, I’ll mail my personal check and keep track of it in my little …
I’ve been mostly retired for a couple months now. I don’t feel like a retirement expert, but boy, I’ve learned a few things the hard way. Don, it’s not necessary to get up at 5 each morning as if you have some place to go at 6:30. No one is waiting for you at the office. …
Little decisions can have monster impacts over time. I have one example. Twenty-five years ago, Sherry and I purchased our home. We knew this was “it” for the rest of our lives. It wasn’t fancy, but it came with lots of rugged land that just needed a bunch of time and …
It’s nice to recognize you are an expert at something. Lately, I’ve recognized I am an expert at making mistakes. I have a 70-year record to prove it. Studying my past faux pas and larger errors in judgment is an exciting and frightful experience. However, it has helped …
Definition of brevity: Concise and exact words in writing and speech Boy, I think I flunked again. When I decided to write this Aging blog three times a week, I promised brevity. Tell a story. Offer a hidden message. Attempt to bring a smile or a near tear. And then get out …
Guess what? I believe I’m going full circle from old man to little kid. Do you want proof just from today? When I was seven, Sister Mary Theresa made me and the other second graders lay our heads down on our desks for a 15-minute afternoon nap. This afternoon, I was working …
It was a magical time. I was a young guy who was lucky enough to wind up working as director of student activities at a small college in Denison, Iowa. I was newly married to Kitty, who taught at Denison High School. We lived in a tiny, tiny house in a nice part of town. We …
