Life, Leadership, and Football

One of my former students is working on a series titled "Dear 18 Year Old Me." He asked me if I'd be willing to throw my thoughts into the mix, and I welcomed the opportunity to pause and reflect. When I look back at the last 19 years, I've had a pretty good life. I have a beautiful family. We have a great home. I love what I do for a living. When it's all said and done, I'd have to say that things have worked out pretty well for me so far, but there are always things that we wish we would have done differently. There are things I wish I would have done better. There are things that I wish I wouldn't have done at all. There are things that I wish I never would have stopped doing. There are relationships that I wish I would have spent more time developing. If I could go back 19 years in time, I think this is what I would like to say to my 18-year-old self... Dear 18-year-old me, Learn to love to read NOW. Don't wait until your late 20's to reali...

"Daddy, why do we watch fireworks?".... "Daddy! Why do we watch fireworks?!" With that, my son managed to snap me out of my iPhone-induced trance, and without knowing it, he inspired this blog.  We had been sitting on the tailgate of a truck for at least an hour, waiting for the fireworks show to start in a small Southwest Oklahoma town about eight miles from where I grew up. While we were waiting, I knew I had some time on my hands, so I began sifting through the list of ideas that I have for future blog posts (we've got some good ones coming!). I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about today. I bounced back and forth between a few ideas. In fact, I started writing two different posts while we sat there. It's amazing what you can do with your phone these days. Then he hit me with that question. I had not anticipated it. That was a mistake on my part. It only makes sense.  He's three years old, and he has just started the ...