The Promise My Dad Chose To See

I’ll never forget all the times my dad and I shared together. There were so many times he could have told me he was too busy or that I needed to go help my mom with my brother, but he never did. Dad always had time for his little girl. I admired my dad and prayed that someday I would meet a man who would take care of me the way my father did. I prayed that man would be a reflection...

Father & Husband Helps Heal A Hurti...

Up until the age of 11, I had the perfect dad. I was the youngest of seven children, a “surprise” to my parents who had me relatively late in life. When my mom was pregnant with me, her youngest was age 10 and her oldest was 20 and getting married. Because it’s a lot easier to spoil one child than it is to spoil six, I had a completely different childhood than my siblings. Because...

An Inkling of Change

At 9:01am on September 30, 2009, Meghann and I met the love of our lives when Mollie Anneliese made her grand entrance to life’s stage. She arrived in perfect health, perfect in every way. The little overachiever even scored a perfect 10 on the APGAR scale used by medical personnel in the delivery room immediately after birth. I remember holding her cute little screaming bundledness...

How Dedication & Determination Save...

Tears filled my eyes as my arm wound its way through the arm of the man who has been #1 in my life for my 24 years. Those arms are the same ones who held onto and steadied my chubby toddler legs on my first birthday as I waddled around the roller skating rink in my skates adorned with hot pink wheels. Those are the very same arms that would hold on to the back of my bike until I was...

The Little Things

I am one of those twisted people that thrive on being busy. Sure, I love a nice relaxing day at the beach as much as the next guy, but that is often short-lived mostly because I jump right back in and “do”. Maybe it is my entrepreneurial spirit or the creative within me that likes things to be “go go go” all the time, but, whatever it is, that is “me”. Last month, I began...

Of Sundaes, Peanuts, and Very Memorable ...

I have always been the quintessential daddy’s girl. My childhood memory bank is a treasure trove of Father-Daughter remembrances: Sunday trips to the ice cream shop, packs of airplane honey roasted peanuts he saved for me from his business trips, the spontaneous tickle attacks that were both hysterical and oh-so-painful, hearing him growl at my opponents during my middle school...