My Back 9

A few months ago, a dear friend of mine who I had not seen a quite some time, honored me with a small token of appreciation of our friendship.  It was a magnet with the very poignant quote from Robert Frost: “ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I  - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” As I was getting breakfast this morning I looked at this magnet on my fridge and started contemplating on it’s meaning.  After several minutes of trying to unpack this quote and its correlation to my life, I decided to sit down and put pencil to paper.  After all, it is New Years Eve, and perhaps I can write and break free from my current state.  As I attempt to pave my way through this piece, I am swimming in a pool of despair, nothing to do this evening, and hoping that the Holidays will end soon.  I know, sounds great, right?  I was going to have my children tonight, but those plans have changed, and similar ...

Well, it’s Black Friday and as I sit here pondering this piece I’m about to write, I am thankful to be home with my kids.  Alexander, Andersen, and I are getting ready to engage in a highly competitive Madden tournament, and after what I encountered yesterday, I am both humbled and happy.  Humbled regarding what I’m about to share and happy that I am not out shopping today.    You see, yesterday, I spent most of the day delivering turkey dinners to some of the less fortunate people in the city of Jacksonville.  This was actually not my original plan.  Since I really didn’t have anything to do ( my kids were with their mom ), I decided to volunteer my time on Thanksgiving Day to serving others.  I went to my local church here in Fleming Island on Sunday and inquired about opportunities to help out and asked where they could possibly use my assistance.  I figured that rather than sitting around, watching football, and feeling sorry ...

Greetings.   I am hopeful that this note finds you all very well, enjoying the beautiful fall season, and living life to the fullest.   First of all, for all you Florida Gator fans, this piece is not about your football team.   They are doing quite well this year, and now that I live in Jacksonville, the Gator fans are everywhere.   My inspiration today comes from a very interesting and impressive man I met on my airplane ride home last night from Houston.   Over the years, I have met some very interesting an amazing people in the air, but the conversation I had with this man, R.J. Molinere, has held me captive until now.   Now, where I get a chance to write, share my inspiration, and pontificate over how interesting life can be if you stay focused and pay attention.   I have had the pleasure of flying with and talking to several prominent people during my many years of travel.   Most notably, Bo Jackson ( of athletic fame ), Ma...

It’s my mom’s birthday today, and as I sit here in my office forging my way through the day, I thought I would take some time and write to her and about her. Since she doesn’t have Facebook and is rarely on the computer, I think I will call her later and read this to her. I’m sure she will like that, I know I will. As I started thinking deeper about my mother’s birthday this morning, it dawned upon me that as time goes by it gets harder and harder to carve out the time to purposefully correspond with our loved ones. How many birthdays go by where we really take the opportunity to tell someone how special they are to us? How often do we take ourselves out of our comfort zone, and take the time to share part of ourselves with people important in our lives? For me, I try and do it as often as I can as part of my back nine self-improvement. I hope as you read through this piece and start pondering this for yourself, something will ignite and this spark will burn brighter and eventu...

On my way home last night I heard the song, Carolina In My Mind , by the great James Taylor. As I was listening to this sweet and soft melody my mind started drifting into a deep and contemplative place, and the thoughts have been jostling about in my own Carolina mind for quite a few hours. Typically, when this happens to me, it ends up here in the Back Nine Chronicles , I hope you enjoy. I started thinking about the last 17, almost 18 years now ( wow ) that I have lived in North Carolina, and I realized that I have actually lived here almost as long as I lived in NY growing up ( 19 years ). The other 12 years of my life ( please put your calculators away ) I have lived in Florida, the other beautiful state that I am moving back to in less than two weeks. Pondering over my years in Carolina actually brought me to tears last night, as I have so many great memories ( and....yes...some not so great ) of living here in the diverse landscape of North Carolina. For those of you who hav...