Having spent too much of my life in the judgemental department, I guess at this point I would defer to, “am I aware when character is present?”
If I see things with that set of eyes and feel it with a true heart, then I sense the presence of character. My current reclamation project is still underway, creeping up to the same time frame as the road work being conducted on I94 for the past millennia. Though they are actually laying new concrete, that road grinder is still at work on me. A few more layers to go is my estimation. But I digress….
When you find yourself in the company of character, it acts as a magnet towards your soul. Filling a need that has just escaped one. Showing you how it is done. So you can see it in action. Emulate. And make it like your own.
Conversely, when you encounter the opposite pole, you should feel a push away. That is, if your positive and negative are in the correct orientation. Again, gives you a sense of what is not only lacking, but more importantly, what is not needed. What has the potential to do harm. A road that can become well travelled if you are not careful.
Had I been able to get to this earlier today would have made me most happy. But Christmas supply chain logistics came into play, and too many KPI’s we’re hanging in the balance for this Santa. But I digress…
Hearing my granddaughter in stitches when I use”wonky” at random and then ad infinitum.
Watching my grandson roll over for the first time and then continue on all the way across the room.
Seeing our OL block through all three levels and then run the field to gather in the endzone with their teammate after they blocked a path for him to score a touchdown.
Seeing tomatoes redden in the garden.
Watching a gazania open at sunrise and close at sunset.
Shoveling the driveway as it snows.
Singing a completely and intentionally tone deaf version of “happy birthday” to my kids, on their day, and leaving it on voicemail.
Making tomato soup and grilled cheese sammiches for dinner.
Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the umpteenzillionth time.
My best friend’s dimples and smile.
More to come I am sure.
But because of these prompts, I have been able to share with all of you.
I would have to think of what I did before responding to this prompt.
To me, for play or fun, aren’t things specifically set aside as such. I need to find my way back to PF for the playtime there on the bike and weight machines. It is fun to coach basketball for Special Olympics, and following the holidays, I can wind my way back to take in some off-season lifting sessions with the T-wolves as they prepare for the ’26 campaign.
Christmas shopping is fun to me. When the bills come due, it can be an altogether different and harrowing experience. But the joy in it outweighs the short term debt.
I guess when it comes to play time or fun, I don’t necessarily stipulate and cordon them off as such. Too much anticipation and expectation if you ask me. If anything goes south, in the least bit, then what was the point? Those are not boundaries I want to instill or live by.
Play time can be shooting the breeze getting coffee or at the checkout picking up your five favorite grocery items. (Oops! forgot that one yesterday.) Fun is calling an old buddy, connecting with the kids. Watching the finches hop around the seed left on the ground and watching Mr. Squirrel trying to figure out how to access the suet now that it has been moved to a bird only access point.
So play and fun are to be had everywhere and all of the time. If you can be open to letting things be and finding it in every available moment.
Thanks for the opportunity to play around with some thoughts, words, punctuation and sentences today!
The various fonts of my ongoing amateur authorship affinity has carried with them a number of different monikers. Most of which were football or coaching affiliated and oriented.
One, once began some time ago, “…a temporary assignment” was somewhat a center of my attention, evocative of that moment in my life. A period of an altogether different level of processing and being. Unaware, or perhaps more honestly unprepared for the feces that would soon hit the fan. Directed for the most part by my inept, irrational and mostly intentional thoughts, words and actions.
So much for leading by example. But I digress….
As of late, things have been brought into focus. Not back into, for that would imply the way things were then needed to be better seen so as to promote my immediate return to them. I would hazard to say that focus has never been one of my strong suits. Well, perhaps it appeared as such, albeit superficially.
Perhaps.
Maybe that remains to be seen.
Of late, things are different. Largely because the direction of my gaze has changed. No longer am I trying to re-see where I was currently looking. Mostly behind. I think I better understand its relevance to this moment, but it no longer rules the day. Same can be said for what may or may not lay ahead. Though we may think other wise, there isn’t much say in that department.
Which this morning led me to better grasp “….my temporary assignment.” No where close to the first or second iteration. Hopefully what is said about the third time has merit and veracity.
Today is what I have. And what I choose to do with it is an assignment of the utmost importance. Tasks that have been granted by a grace freely given. Delivered by the thoughts now received, the words readily heard and the actions witnessed.
Nothing to do with bringing things back into focus. Just being able to finally really see.
There are a number of those that have cast an impression upon me, in their way, ultimately soliciting a positive outcome in my life. Some are instantaneous in nature, sort of a spontaneous combustion event. While there are those that were merely planted, left and took months, years or decades to germinate and come to fruition.
Moments, interactions and relationships can assume an identity all their own, playing out a role that may not be readily apparent. There are those that bring with them an open and genuine level of honesty and positivity. Meant for one’s immediate care and benefit. Delivered with complete integrity, humility and a love born of servanthood to all those in need.
The impact of those interactions are immediately apparent. And I can name many that were there in that fashion, precisely when I desperately needed it.
One in particular was so in tune with my wellbeing, that he somehow called me, out of the blue, precisely during one of my worst moments, simply because he wanted me to know that he was there for me. No matter what. To this day, I remain touched by this level of loving care. The fact that I just shared this event with all of you brings tears to my eyes, despite the fact it happened well over a decade ago.
Then, there are those lessons one encounters that begin more with a somewhat arbitrary sense of conviction and desire, because its “how I did it and it works, so you should do it too.” Born more of convention or convenience. Just because. And depending on the current circumstances in one’s life, one might be more apt to surrender a bit oneself to become like them. Join the clique. Be a member of the “team”.
At first, things may reap the rewards yearned for, creating a false sense of “I made it.” But as the cost to your true being is accounted for, things slip away and you can descend into realms that taint, harm and destroy. There might be ways to assuage this sense of loss and losing recognition of who it is you were to start. But ultimately, it becomes a lesson of redemption and rebirth. An interaction that cast a cloud of negativity over you and your life. But ultimately, in the final analysis, led you to where you were meant to be.
Just as I am indebted to those who have touched my soul in ways I never imagined, I too am grateful that others have led me to tough lessons in self realization and affirmation. Perhaps they were never intended to be how I accepted them. But despite the negative origins, they too became a positive and lasting influence on me. And to those men, I am also grateful for being a part of my journey.
I tend to digress once pen is in hand. But with regard to the basis of the prompt, “describe a man who has positively impacted your life”, without a doubt, he would be Him. God.
It was He that suggested that many fellow coach should call precisely when I needed to hear his voice and feel his love. And it was He that allowed me to exercise my free will, albeit poor in execution, while remaining right next to me as I rebuilt and found my true way forward in life. He brought all those other men in and out of my life, when they were needed, then not, so that I could finally find this man.
The one sharing this prompt on one of the best days ever.
...my temporary assignment. 