the sleepy bear

It has been way too long since my fingers have raced across the keys to punch out some seemingly thought that to no one else makes sense but me.  While I steal a minute away from my life I wanted to see if I could unearth some thought in me that has been hidden in the recesses of my heart and mind just dying to be exposed to the light of the blogosphere.

While I am really starting with no ending place in my (dangerous, I know), I at least have this thought bouncing of neurons in my brain: it is funny how passions can be de-passionated by our lack of use or involvement in them.  If you look back it has been nearly "forever" since I last posted to my blog.  Here is the question: did my passion for writing go away or did I just fail to fuel the passion?

Let me give a life example.  I grew up playing baseball.  That may be understated, I played baseball all the time. I played summer league, I played in the neighborhood, I played with tennis balls and tennis racquets, we played wiffle ball, I played imaginary games where the Cubs seemingly won the World Series every year and I either hit the walk-off home run or was the shut down closer.  Baseball was my passion.  Somewhere around 17 that stopped or at least faded away.  Sure I followed the Cubs on Sportscenter, I even attended a few games, but that passion for the grand ole game was not the same...until I had boys.

Two summers in to my sons' little league experience and I find myself not only oiling their mitts, but my own.  I not only am teaching them the fine art of hitting, running and fielding, but am finding my desire to sharpen the skill set (just in case this is the year I get drafted, in terms of baseball).  What lied dormant has been breathed new life on.  It is like the hibernating bear - sure the bear is asleep, but it is still a bear with all the power and fierceness of a bear.  And if you awaken that sleepy grizzly you will see all the power and fierceness come to life.

So the question then becomes: what are the hibernating bears in our life?  I realized I will never play professional baseball and for the most part understand it is a long shot for my boys.  But I have enjoyed awakening the bear.  But there are other bears in our lives that have gone to sleep...the bear of our marriages, the bear of our spiritual lives, the bear of a friendship or relationship with a family member, the bear of gift or talent that we use to give back to others.  In all of our lives there is something that has fallen asleep that when awake has a great passion to inspire us and move us.

The challenge is to awaken the bear...this post is me poking a stick at the writing grizzly asleep in the cave.

Follow Up To "Things I Wish I Knew Yesterday"

I am finding more and more of these type moments.  My wife, Meredith, just wanted to go shopping for Mother's Day.  No fancy lunch, no flowers, nada, nothing.  She just wanted some grown up time to replenish the wardrobe.  So she ventured out to her favorite clothing store Maurices.

Now my wife can shop.  She doesn't leave the store with it without it being a deal.  She is evolving into an extreme couponer.  So much to her disgust today in the mail, wouldn't you know it, a 20% off total purchase coupon!

Things I wish I knew yesterday (or at least last Sunday)!  Guess we will never stop learning the lessons that our yesterday's teach us.

The Toughtest Road

This entire blog is prefaced with the fact that I love Dave Ramsey. About three years ago I had a moment.  I am cautious to call it a "God" moment, though I think it is what God wants for our family.  Nonetheless in while driving my 2000 silver Dodge Dakota it was as if a switch went off with this thought: "we have to get out of debt." 

Now we had sort of taken Financial Peace, I say sort of because we had the materials, but never attended the class.  But it was if I finally was rocked by the proverb that says "A borrower is slave to the lender."  All of you know what I mean, your credit card company out of the goodness of their heart takes individual concern for your credit rating and gives you a "courtesy" phone call to remind you that you owe them money.  And it is at that moment you suddenly realize you have lost your freedom.  Lost freedom to spend your money as you want, but are indebted to Citi Card or Chase or Bank of America or whoever has your freedom tied to line of credit. 

So for three years we have been navigating this road of debt reduction.  We have reduced our debt by about 50% (our starting debt was over $90,000).  As Dave says with Gazelle Intensity, which at times has been little more than a turtle's pace as in the midst of becoming free of debt we have made some other transitions.  This road has not been easy.  Case in point, I type this blog on a Dell computer (yuck!) instead of the sleek and super cool Mac that I desire.  On the other side that silver 2000 Dodge Dakota parked in front of my house, all mine, no more payments.  But we are doing our best "to live like no one else, in order to LIVE like no one else!" 

FREEDOM!!!! -- Willam Wallace