Reflections

Who would have thought in 1983 that my friend, Lee would be an executive manager of a successful town and I'd would have owned a business for 28 years.  We had just turned 16. We were idealistic young "bens" ( b oys trying to be m en ). School had just let out. For 9 months Lee was an experimental driver; one might call him a novice. Me on the other hand, I had only had my license for three months. But like most "country boys" we both had been driving the back roads since we were 13, praying we wouldn't get caught. I had a jack-up, large tired, roll-bar pick up strewn with KC 1,000,000 power spot lights. I considered myself a sophisticated redneck. For months we had been dreaming about heading to the mountains.  Camping, experiencing nature as two independent men (or so we thought). So the week after school was released, we loaded up the bed of the truck with sleeping bags, lounge chairs, coolers, flashlights, food, a tarp and rope. Basically everything ...

Some people would have probably called me cheap, but others that knew me understood. There was something about being outside and on the water that caused me to have some of my most cherished dates with my wife Elizabeth Swicegood; what were we doing? Fishing, yes fishing. Back in 1984, I had seen a number of afternoons on the water. There wasn't a fishing pond within 5 miles of my parent's house that I had not paid a visit to. So, when I took my first visit to Elizabeth Sharp's house, I had only heard there was a pretty girl from Texas that had moved in. No one said anything about two fishing ponds. So, I possibly could have been accused to picking Elizabeth as my girlfriend because her dad had a 100-acre farm with two fishing ponds.  One open and the other with great cover. The two tranquil bodies of water were special. Un-fished for many years before they moved from the prairies of north Texas, these two ponds were target central for me as a 17-year-old. Ok, ...

Some people hate flying. I'll admit, in my younger years, I was scared to death, tightly holding on to the arm rest, and having a racing heart at the slightest bump. Times have changed however. I have found the solitude at 30,000 feet is golden. My cell phone is off, people are quiet and the constant hummmmm of the engines become peaceful. Today, I took off from McCarran Airport in Nevada and just as we reached our cruising altitude, the captain said, "look out the window to the right and you'll see Mt. Zion National park as well as the Grand Canyon,  the Colorado River and Monument Valley." All of these are huge land masses, but at 30,000 you can see it great. I can't help but think it's the view God in heaven must see as he looks down from his kingdom. Today alone, we flew over Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Eight very distinctive and diverse eco-systems. Back to the flight; I learn a lot about busines...