Walking in to my old school...

This is the first time in over 13 years that I visited by junior high school, Ben Franklin. When I walked into it, I felt a weight on my chest.

 -The weight of time-

It waits for no one. I never really thought anything special about Ben Franklin -but today I do...I was there.
My friends were there.

When I walked the halls, stared at the old pool, cringed in the locker rooms, and glared down the old hallways, I felt an emptiness inside.
I forgot so much -even though I spent so much of my life there. People always say, "If I knew then what I know now", I keep telling myself that, but I'm really not sure how it applies.
I just feel lonely when thinking about it... I guess it's like walking into your old house that you grew up in and now see a new family living in it.

You want to remember it as you knew it.

You want everything to be the same.

How to speak any language

OK, I'm back. I was in Mexico building a house for a family. I'm not even going to try to write all of the experience down here. But it was amazing. On Friday, the last day of the time spent w/ the family I experienced something great.

The entire family came to visit with tons of food ready for a fiesta! Car doors were swung open blasting salsa music and there was a ton of food for everyone to eat. Although I could not speak Spanish and they could not speak English -magic was happening as we both spoke a language we both could understand... the language of love.

Truest Truth

Here is something to ponder. -While sitting in traffic at a redlight, I glance out my right window and see a women limping from an acident. -While running on a treadmill, I look out the gym window to see a man with no legs -strolling along in a wheelchair. -While racing to work late yesterday in the rain, another car speeding around the bend alomst collides with me and my wife. ...And then I think of these words,

"BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD -THERE GO I"

Fatigue makes cowards of us all...

Those are the words of the great coach Vince Lombardi. The first time i heard them was over Christmas break while in college. I worked in a trailer making fruit baskets and after making a million of them in the freezing cold my boss would often yell in my direction that famous phrase. Thinking of that phrase and the truth it holds leads me to think that one of a person's greatest virtues will be PERSEVERANCE. I think that in life we start things and make commitments that in time start to wear us out. Our once enthusiasm is gone and the gas tank is reading E.

-I like to think of these times as seasons in our lives-

As we all know, seasons will come and go. So I say press on and I bet in time your season will pass. Stay focused on what brought you to the place you currently at. Renew you passion and vision. Persevere to the end!

Baseball gloves and karate

The sun is finally out in western Pa. If your not from here, then you don't understand that we have to take advantage of things like this because it is a fact that this part of the United States gets the least amount of sunny days.
Right after work, my wife and I grab our baseball gloves, a Frisbee and went out to a nearby park to...well, play.

-Something great was happening as we were our running around and acting like fools in front of a bunch of "New Galilee hoods."

As we tossed the baseball around, tried to throw the Frisbee in the wind (I got hit in the jaw) , and practiced karate;

the bond between us was growing, our love for each other was blossoming.

I am grateful for the time spent with her yesterday out in that field.

Marriage is great and I have a great partner to live it out with!