Reflections
T minus seven hours and counting until those of us in the eastern U.S. leap into 2007. Already, there are showings of folks across the globe celebrating as the New Year begins. Flip on any news show and you’ll see the year in review… which automatically makes me think of a personal year in review. This blog has made remembering some of the high points of the year a little easier. Try keeping an on line journal and you’ll see!
I’m sitting here trying to think of one significant happening per month, or one high point of each month, just to see if my memory banks are clogged up. Let’s try it, shall we?
January – A rough month on the personal scale, but as we moved past the first week of ’06, I began to see I was on the right track. Highlights would include the weekend rituals with my buds, Josh and DJ, and going to see the same Beatles cover band nearly every weekend.
February – A trip to Florida to okay the final draft of the new version of “After This…” Then, onto Muskingum College in Ohio to kick off the speaking year.
March – Speaking at LSU on the very night LSU played Duke in the Sweet 16 – something that’s never before happened. Small audience, but hopefully those in attendance got something from it. Throw in an entire day of St. Pat’s celebration in Dogtown, St. Louis and I started wishing I had Irish blood!
April – Started the month with the wedding celebration in Nashville for my bud, Ted Pins. Speaking, speaking, speaking and the vacation weekend in Reno with my old college roomie, Ben – and yes, just in case you’re wondering, I came home poor.
May – N’Orleans bachelor weekend with the boys from Wanca! Oh yeah, and I moved into my 31st year.
June – My annual voyage to Camp TAMBO to council senior high camp. Thanks to all of you guys who made that such a special week. Within a week, as things will happen, there were three deaths – baby Ruthie, daughter of my friends Kyle and Suzie Nix, my friend Tempe Humphrey who I worked with at the MO Div. of Hwy. Safety and my grandmother, Virginia Engel. From bad comes good, as the saying goes. The morning of my grandmother’s passing, I went into the hospital for some minor surgery. Two days later, my best friend and editor, Marvelyne, came up from Florida to help take care of me. It was at this time that both of us started seeing our relationship shift and develop. Now, Marvelyne has the title: girlfriend/best friend/editor. What will 2007 hold for she and I? Wait and see!
July – Orlando, FL for the annual convention of the National Speakers Association. It was at this time that I set the goal to crank out another book, “The Other End of the Stethoscope” before Aug. 10, just 30 days away! Whew!
August – Speaking for the TREND conference in St. Louis, sweating my butt off in the mid-west and the wedding of my fraternity brother, Andy Netterville. Cheers!
September – If you ever get the idea to do a cleanse diet, do it with someone you get along with. The first 10 days of September, I cleansed with Marvelyne. Nothing but whole foods and veggies and fruit for 10 days. Can’t a brother get a ham sandwich anywhere? Weekend in the Bay Area with my old college roommate, Ben, before heading to Spokane, WA to speak at Eastern WA University.
October – Uh, did I say I wanted to speak professionally? Well, I got my wish in October. I was on the road most of the month-Texas, Branson, NC, Tennessee, FL and then back to St. Louis for more speeches. Throw in the Cardinals winning the World Series, my book release event and the trip to Salt Lake City for the NODA conference and this was one packed month!
November – Spoke at DeSales University in PA, then to the Bacchus Network Conf. in Anaheim. Thanksgiving and a return to N’Orleans for the AFA conference made this a packed month, too.
December – Spent the first 20 days in Florida, with a side trip to Seattle thrown in for good measure. Seattle… love it! Salmon, rain, coffee and a conference of folks passionate about stopping impaired driving. Christmas with the fam, an overnight to NYC and now, here in Florida on December 31st, I can only wonder where I’ll be to look back on the year in review, ’07.
Happy New Year!
