Buckeye Mike

I do not remember who sent this to me, nor do I know who wrote it. It was an email I forwarded myself when I left Belfor. However, I found myself in a strange place today. And I was looking through my old emails and found this, which I have not seen since the day I sent it to myself almost 3 years ago. I forgot I even read it in the first place. But I really needed to hear this today. And as I am learning more and more everyday, everything will be shown to you when God decides you need to see it. Please enjoy. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.  Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and “to do” lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so imp...

Dear Me, Keep your confidence. Do not let them see how nervous you are. Slow down. You have a tendency to talk really fast when you are excited. Take a breath. Listen more than you speak. Every word will be important. Think about the question before you give an answer, give yourself time to process what you are trying to convey. When answering, speak confidently about what you are putting in front of them. Remember why you are there. The names are John-Michael, Benjamin, Tanner, and Tiffany. Remember what got you there. 40 years of life experience. You are, like Mom, a story teller. Let them see that. It is a strength. Remember, you have one shot, one opportunity. Do not let it slip. What's for you WILL NOT pass by you. Keep the faith. In yourself, in Ralph, and, most importantly, in God. He put you here, he gave you this chance. And remember that no matter what happens, whether you walk out overjoyed, disappointed, or neutral, you have 3 great sons, a tremend...

I had a pretty terrific weekend. It was no surprise, as Tiffany and I usually try to maximize Saturdays and Sundays both when the boys are with us and when we are all by ourselves. The last two days were the latter and we woke up early Saturday to begin the adventure. We spent Saturday morning visiting numerous yard sales around North East Columbus. We usually have one or two things we are looking for, and got lucky to cross everything off of our list by noon. We returned home, unpacked the car then headed to Utica, Ohio, to a tattoo shop owned by a high school friend of mine. Tiffany wants to get a sleeve tattoo, and we met with my artist friend (also a Tiffiny). They planned was is sure to be an amazing piece of art for my sweetheart's left arm. We had lunch at the Pioneer Restaurant in town (terrific ambiance but the food was not what you may have heard) and then headed to Pataskala for our first cones from Dairy Hut this season. Then it was home to do a little re-arrangi...

I feel like I am on the precipice of something great. A meeting tonight and another next week will, if things go as planned, open the door to a new life for myself, my family, and my best friend Ralph. As stated in the last post, I am anxious, excited, and scared to death. But the people I am sitting down with will never know. It could be nothing. But it also has a very good chance of being something . And with life being where it is today, I have faith that it will be more than a thanks but no thanks when the moment of truth arrives. I was talking to a girl in the office today. We were speaking about how things can change so rapidly, and my life is a testament to that. I stand on solid ground now. I have a beautiful home, amazing wife, and my three sons call my home their home full time. But not long ago, I was looking up at a mountain from the bottom, trying to discover the path to the top and finding that the first step was next to impossible to take. At that time life felt lik...

I am excited this morning. And nervous. And cautiously optimistic. What we are talking about here is the realization of a dream. A pipe dream that started with two friends, closer than brothers, sitting around bouncing ideas off of each other. Ideas flowed that day and have continued to form as we marched to the place we are today. And now, with hope in one hand and faith in the other, we await a meeting that could change our lives, our families lives, and our legacy forever. I can be a head in the clouds guy. While I take my job very seriously, I often daydream about a better life for Tiffany, the boys, and myself. The zest I have for life, and wanting to experience as much of it as possible, has never taken a backseat to my career. Don't get me wrong, it is a great feeling to take someone's hand, look them in the eye, and tell them you are going to make it better after the flames are out and all that is left is the charred remains of a life they had built. Out of the ash we...

2 years ago, on the 40th birthday of my oldest  and most tried and true friend Brad, I wrote this blog. Today, on his 42nd, here is the 2.0 version, just a few tweeks, but the best way to say Happy Birthday to a true pal. I remember the day I met him. Clad in a beige work jumpsuit with Mr. Sparkle branded on the name tag, Brad Stefanov had to be the most unique individual I had met since my family had moved to Columbus the summer before. It was 1988 and I had just started my first job, at Kroger in Gahanna. I was a bagger and making a paycheck and thought I was king of the world. Brad would chat as he came by with his mop and and bucket, and I would politely make conversation. I had been raised never to be rude, even to strange people. Little did I realize who Mr. Sparkle would turn out to be. I remember very distinctly the night I was leaving work and it was pouring rain. I looked at my trusty 10 speed with dread, knowing that the hill on Clark State Road would be especially ...

I recently came upon  blog I wrote 4 and a half years ago. Having just received devastating news about my mother, I pulled into a rest area on I-72 in Illinois, and poured my angry, confused, and hurt thoughts into what would become the first blog post I ever wrote. It was not on this forum, it was on myspace, but I since copied it here and keep it unpublished. I am sure I will read it many times as I do all the others, helping me to never forget where I have been. But there is no reason to share what was in my head during one of the darkest moments of my life. In that blog, I rambled on a bit about my mother. About how she worked 4 or 5 or 6 jobs at a time to keep macaroni and cheese on the table of a tiny 2 bedroom mobile home we lived in when I was very young. I am sure it was a struggle for her to support my sister and myself (Josh came along towards the end of our trailer life) but she never showed that to us. I remember learning to ride a bike there, weekends at...

Jesus loves me this I know For the Bible tells me so Little ones to him belong They are weak but he is strong Yes Jesus loves me Yes Jesus loves me Yes Jesus loves me The Bible tells me so Who sang along while reading the opening to this blog? Come on, show of hands? My childhood is full of memories of songs just like this. I was fortunate to be raised by mother and a family with deep roots in the church. I remember, when I was very young, my Grandpa and all the men I saw every Sunday breaking ground on the new church. Many times in my life I have looked a photo of my brother Josh in a car seat on top of the mound of dirt they dug out to build the foundation and thought "I actually remember when this was taken". As I grew older my family's involvement in the church only grew more steadfast. My Uncle Ronnie became a Pastor and performed the wedding ceremony for Tiffany and I. My Aunt Debbie and her late husband (my other Uncle Ronnie) became childre...