Buckeye Mike

It has been almost three years since I lost my mother. 3 long years yet I still pick up the phone to call her every time one of the boys does something that I think she would want to hear about. She has missed so much, good and bad. From the kids growing up a little more every day to her newest grandchild, her namesake, Linda. She missed the the drama that surrounded my divorce and the subsequent collapse in every facet of my life that followed. While I think it would have been different if she had been here, I am glad she didn't have to see that dark time in my life. If you read this blog regularly, you understand how much she meant to me and my family, and how much she is still missed today. Another thing she missed is Tiffany. My fiancee, and the answer to all the questions I have been asking for three years, Tiffany has quickly become the biggest influence on my life. She has encouraged me to let go of things from the past and to start building the legacy for my children that...

I normally do not address political platforms on this blog, and I very rarely address anything in the news. That was not my intent when I started sharing my thoughts on these pages in the Spring of 2010. It has been, and always will be, a place for me to journal my thoughts on any given day so that I can go back from time to time and see where I was and where I am headed on this path. Some posts are so personal they are never published for all to see. But most are cataloged by the month and year just to the right of where you are reading now. And I do appreciate the fact that you are reading, first timers and regulars alike as I give my take on one of the biggest news stories that Central Ohio has ever seen. A few years ago there was a report of a mountain lion loose in Gahanna, Ohio. It had been reported less than a mile from the home I shared with my ex wife and children. A day turned to two, then three, and so on and the reports continued to pour in. We kept the kids insi...

I remember it like it was yesterday. Angel was about 14 months (or so it felt) pregnant with John-Michael. We lived in a small apartment in Blacklick, and I was busy working as many hours as I possibly could at a local warehouse. And no matter how much I worked, the ends just never seemed to meet. It was before the divorce, before we welcomed JM and the other two boys into our house, and long before I ever heard of disaster restoration. It is funny to look back on that time and remember the people who were in our lives everyday, and compare that list to today. With a couple of rock like exceptions, the names are entirely different now than they were then. And since I subscribe to the theory of a reason, a season, or a lifetime, I count myself lucky to have known those people who have since moved on, knowing their role in my life wasn't long term, but still very important. And I hope that feeling is reciprocated. One particular lady we knew then was Mary Nutter. She was quiet as...

I was born and raised in a family that has a tremendous love of music. Some of my earliest memories in life are of my family caroling at secluded houses along the country roads of Pleasant Plain, Ohio. My Uncle Ronnie led the music ministry at our church. My mamaw got up and sang Scarlet Purple Robe whenever Ann Skinner asked her to. When it wasn't Sunday my mother was introducing us to Fleetwood Mac, Carly Simon, Patsy Cline, and of course Johnny Cash. I learned early that music was the soundtrack of life, and have kept that lesson close throughout the years. There are a thousand songs I could hear on the radio right now that would evoke a thousand different memories. Some great, some not so much, but all set to music over the years of my life. I remember that morning like it was yesterday. Mom couldn't drive, so I would take her to work every morning. On that day we heard a new song by a relatively unknown artist that, when it was over, left us both in tears. I told her tha...

Isn't it funny how significant seven little words can be. The average length of one sentence, they can add up to nothing. On the other hand, they can change the course of your life for a moment or a lifetime. In the case of my best friend Bethany, there have been several times when seven words have had such a strong impact that she had to stop and re-think everything. Last fall I wrote a blog post entitled "What's for you won't pass by you." The day before, the man she had been with for four years, and intended to spend the rest of her life with, changed her world with seven words. "I don't think I can move there" was the sentence he used that paralyzed her for the better part of a year. If you know Bethany, you know it is not often that she sells completely out to something. So when she was promised the moon and stars, only to have it yanked back, she was devastated. Seven words that forever changed the way she looked at herself. It was so sad for...

I have been a little out of my element recently. In the past, I have been dubbed Mr. Crackberry, a phone junkie, and a tech geek. Admittedly, all of those titles fit me well. So when I said goodbye to my previous employer last Friday and left my phone behind, the withdrawal started. Sure, I have my laptop at home, and Tiffany let me use her phone for whatever I needed over the last few days. But I am a far cry from the blackberry EVO combo I have been carrying for so long. Now I sit in a hotel in Akron Ohio, new work laptop fired up in front of me and new phone coming my way tomorrow. Yeah, that's more like it. Back to being a little more me. Over the last few weeks the rumors of where I was going came fast and furious. My GM at Belfor said he heard Paul Davis Restoration. With a smirk I told him I heard that too, along with Servicemaster, Servpro, and a slew of other local companies in the Columbus Market. Truth be told, when I put in my notice, Paul Davis was my intended destin...