The grass is greener on the other side

We have a neighbor who has amazing grass, I mean really amazing!! In the peak of summer it is green and lush and full of life. The kind of grass that you just want to go and lay down on and take a mid day nap on. At times I feel a little embarrassed that our lawn is not as full of life. But I just don't have the time to get achieve the results that my neighbor does.

I think quite often we long to be where the grass is greener, but we never weigh the cost. I mean, in the summer it is a common site to see my neighbor out side working on his lawn. He mows it twice a week, he waters it religiously. I'm pretty sure I saw him out there once with a ruler and a pair of scissors.  It takes a lot of work and true dedication to have a lawn like this man.

I know realize that it takes a lot of work to be on the "greener" side of the fence. It is no fluke when people have a life that is "green" I used to envy those with a life with full grass, I am now working on my own life. I am trying to create a life that is full of growth. It is a lot of hard work and is going to require a lot of dedication. 

I don't want to make a new years resolution, but I am going to make a new years intention. I intend to work harder at enjoying life and living it to its fullest, cause really whats the point of having really green grass if you can't lay back on it and watch the clouds go by. 

Looking out for #1

When you are a child you are often taught to look out for yourself. Good in theory for sure. As we grow we need to learn to be self reliant, to take care of your self. Go to school get good grades. When you are done school go to post secondary, graduate from there. Get a good career save money for when you get old, cause really if you don't do it for yourself who else will?

I often hear the cliche look our for #1, but who is this #1 anyway? I know it is supposed to be about your three best friends you know Me, Myself, and I. I just want to throw this out there. What if that phrase is garbage? Just think about it for one second. Isn't that the problem with the world today? society has become very egocentric. I know I encounter this every time I get into the car to drive. For myself when I get behind the wheel I am the most important person on the road. God help you if you get in my way. I don't let other drivers get in front of me, I honk, I get angry. I think it is safe to assume that most of you reading are the same way being that most of this people on the road act the same way.

What if we changed our mindset? What if we put others first? Not on the surface, not just giving your small donation to a charity so it makes you feel good. What if as a society and dare I say it as a world wide population put others first? If we no longer competed in the "rat race" to hoard wealth, but worked to make sure everyone had what they needed. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if no one worked endless hours to just get by. What if we lived our lives for others. I can't help but think that if we lived to better others we would be closer to ending homelessness, ending poverty, making sure that third world nations have what they need and more.

What a wonderful world it would be if #1 was you and not me.

Family time

When I picture family time, I picture leave it to beaver. You know the family long since gone sitting around by a fire playing board games, while the children asked Ma and Pa for one more game before bed. It would seem to me that family time is a tradition that has suffered the same fate as the Elvis. I won't go into details but it wasn't pretty. Anyway, it is an interesting time to be raising children. With so much technology around us, the question is do we embrace it or not? My wife and I have tried to have family time. We have an endless collection of board games, and yet family time was still a rarity.

For Christmas after many letters to Santa we decided that we as a family would ask Santa for a new X-box with Kinect. This would be the first year that as a family we asked for the same present. And much to our delight Santa obliged our wish. On Christmas morning the children opened up a brand new X-box with Kinect. The smell of brand new plastic filled the room.

Now I must explain what this big deal is with the Kinect. The Kinect allows for the players of the X-box to play with no controllers. Even I have to admit it is very cool!! Now back to Christmas morning. Once the console was set up and turned on for the first time the magic began. The games we bought had table tennis, rafting, and other fun stuff. We have had more time spent as a family with this new game that we have in a long time.  We have laughed together, cried together (that would be me losing) and just had a good time overall.

I guess tech toys aren't so bad after all. Thank you Santa!

Greatness

Do we ever realize what kind of people cross our path everyday? I have spent most of my life living in the shadow of some very "un"great people. You know these people; the type of person who is like a magnet attracting other people to them, but at the same time never allowing them to be at the same level as they are. They always want to be one step ahead of the group.  At the surface these people look like they exude greatness. But when you dig deeper the only reason they are great is because of the people they have in their shadow. Now I don't say this to gain a sympathy vote, it is just the opposite. Through reflecting on what greatness is I have come to realize that a truly great person is one who illuminates those around them instead of casting a shadow.

I have been blessed to be in the presence of some truly great people. One such person is a friend I made along time ago. It all started when I  attended a church where he was the pastor. I knew that he was a professional musician in LA before he was called to work in Calgary as a pastor. As time went on I began to play on the music team. When we practiced he would guide, encourage, and support the musicians that were in the band. At the same time that this was going on I still played in my own band.
On one of the gigs that I was playing the drummer in my band was not able to play at the last minute, so I asked the pastor if he would help out and fill in for my drummer. He said that he would love to, so the gig came and he played (and it was amazing).  I had never played with a musician of his caliber before, but the cool thing is I never knew how good he was. He never put himself above the other kids that played in the band.

I did wind up leaving that church and lost contact with the pastor. Some time went by and when I tried to regain contact with him I found out that he was no longer at the church he had worked at and that he had gone back to the USA to be a musician again. I found this out after  I "googled" him on a whim. At that time I found out what stuff he was involved in before I met him at this little church where he was the youth pastor. I found out that if anyone had the "right" to cast a shadow it was this man. He played with some really big name musicians, won some awards and really had a lot that he could use to cast a pretty large shadow if he chose to. Instead he chose to illuminate those around him and make all the people around him shine in their own way.

As I write this other people come to mind that I believe are great. My wife is one of them. She is the reason why I am writing again and the reason I plan on going back to school. Nicky is an amazing teacher, has 2 degrees (in my mind that is a big deal).  Now, she could use her intelligence to cast a shadow, but instead she chooses to help many children and in this past year she took a temp position helping other teachers to reach for the sun and achieve greatness themselves.

We are surrounded by great people. You don't have to look hard - you just have to look for the ones that bring light into your life instead of darkness.