Tales of the Ordinary Days

Buffalo Wild Wings family feast My mom has taught me many great lessons. One that has come up continuously while going through the motions of the daily hamster wheel is to #1) Throw away the list. And then next in quick order, #2) Completely forget about the list. A real-life lesson from my mom happened about twelve years ago. It revolved around a trip with me out of town and my mom babysitting the boys. Back when the boys were young, it was common for Mom and Dad to fly to Omaha and tend to the house while we were away. Homemade jammie pants on 2 boys and genuine smiles on all Forever tied to a calendar, I would carefully map out the boys' schedules prior to our departure. Although I don't remember the exact calendar listings during that particular trip, likely it involved baseball practice, piano, and art lessons, to name a few. I might even have penciled in play dates to ensure there were no open spaces on the calendar <gasp>. After mapping out my detaile...

Bud's the one in Creighton cap Recently I was enjoying a holiday party with my investment group. I love these ladies and our monthly meetings together. Our December meeting is the only one set aside for conversations not revolving around stock decisions. Some light-hearted company, while catching up on each other's lives. "Sandy, you have had an interesting year," noted one of my stock-picking comrades. My knee-jerk answer was a self-reflection that has crossed my mind many times recently. "I know. I don't get it. I'm actually a very boring person." There have definitely been Forrest Gump-like encounters in my many ordinary days. As I view nothing in life as a coincidence, the well-planned orchestra of events around me can only be played if I act upon them. Some are good. Some are bad. But all have a purpose. It's up to me to open my mind and heart to both embrace them and then reflect on them. Over the years this has been obvious w...