18 years ago this smiley little munchkin made me a dad. I’m as proud of him today as I was the day we brought him home.
C – here’s eighteen things I think that every 18-year old could benefit from knowing. It’s not an exhaustive list and it’s not in any sort of ranked order. I didn’t come up with them all and I don’t want to imply that I hit them all consistently, your mileage may vary.
— —
– Love God, love your neighbor.
– It’s easy to put someone down, but much more difficult to build them up.
– Consistently show up. You’ll achieve much more by being consistently reliable than by being occasionally extraordinary.
– Success is fleeting, find joy in everyday life.
– On your deathbed, you won’t wish you had spent more time at the office.
– Choose your hard.
– Say “I love you”. Tell them.
– No one has it all figured out.
– The people you choose to surround yourself with will determine your outcomes.
– The good old days are happening right now.
– Confidence is built.
– Nobody cares nearly as much as you think they do.
– Apologize when you’re wrong, taking responsibility is important.
– Practice gratitude.
– Stay curious.
– The only real failure is not trying.
– Manage your money and your time. (But only one of them can you get back.)
Last fall, I had the privilege of stepping in to coach the Junior Varsity baseball team at my boys’ school for the off-season program. By rule, the “real” coaches are not allowed to be on the field with the players when they are not officially in season so they recruit others: dads, past players, outside coaches, etc to step in a run the practices and games on their behalf.
Obviously, they asked about 30 others before deciding to call upon me, but in the end, they reached out and afforded me the opportunity.
The fall season was short, just a 6-game league play where — due to a field shortage — we had to play everything away. Also, just to see where our boys stacked up, our head coach of the baseball program signed us up for the JV1 division which means we would be playing against 5A and 6A schools, instead of the 2A and 3A-sized schools that we typically play against. No complaints, we had a great time.
We also got our teeth kicked in most games. Thankfully, we improved every week, ending up pulling out a win in our last game to finish the season with a 1-5 record…
I just resurrected my sorely-neglected email newsletter, maybe in 2023 I’ll be a little more regular about it. If you’re interested in reading my ramblings on a school district in disarray, you should subscribe:
Life in Grapevine, Texas during the 1920’s to 1950’s (from the Star-Telegram archive)
A while back I stumbled across this post from the Star-Telegram of photos from our little town back in the day. Because too much on the internet gets lost, I decided to grab a copy of it all as an archive for myself. Your mileage may vary.
A couple things I’ve noted looking through them:
#1: We attend this congregation though neither the building or the location are the same as this photo.
#7: This school building still stands and has been a place of education for both of my boys (currently the younger one still has 1.5 years left in it). It’s also a block from our house.
#12: We’ve had the same mayor for over 40 years. The mayor before him? His dad.
#19: The Lucas family has owned and operated a funeral home in Grapevine for decades. My current office used to be the place where they stored their caskets.
#24: Ola Mae (Black) Hodges was one of our favorite Grapevine residents for years when we first moved here. She and her husband lived in the same house for almost 60 years and amazingly enough, had the same phone number for their entire time of owning the home. Her husband Bob was a war veteran, a varsity quarterback at Grapevine HS, and has forgotten more committed-to-memory scripture than I’ll ever be able to learn.
#32: There are more cantaloupes in this picture than I’ve seen grown in this town in my entire time living here. I kind of wish I was around when we were a little more agriculture focused.
#33: The tallest building on the left side of the street in this photo is my office (right above where it says Drugs).
#36: This building is about 3 doors north of my office. No longer a bank, now it’s a steakhouse.
#37: We live in the D.E. Box neighborhood of Grapevine. Prior to this photo, I didn’t know who D.E Box was.
#43: Again, office on left side, tallest building.
#44: A little more recent view of downtown to match it up with #43.
