Tonight I helped Ben make the “obligatory phone calls” to grandpa (my dad) and Steph (his sister), as it was his last day of freedom.  That’s right, tomorrow Ben puts his nose to the grindstone as a student at St. Mary’s Preschool.

It has been a long time coming too.  He already insists he he smarter than all of us, and the whole St. Mary’s thing is probably just a diversion from the fact that he belongs at Harvard. (I just used Harvard for the joke, but I am not a fan).  But the calls went well, his backpack is loaded up, his clothes are laid out, and he is in his bed (although his mom is there with him as there is some sort of monster in there.)  But the cool part is that he is VERY excited.

And he will do fine, but I DO want to ask your prayers for Amanda, who although is acting pretty business-like and tough about the whole thing, will absolutely lose it tomorrow when he goes into class.  I do not see a chord, but I know it is there.  And I am smart enough to just stay out of the way.  Ben will do fine,  Amanda, I am not so sure.

But regardless, I will have to deal with them both.  Ben has been his usual multi-personality self, but she has been uptight.  I know she is worried about him, but I know him well and am worried about the school and the world.

The next 24 hours will tell, but I am betting on Ben.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Oh yes…this is a “stock” photo, since Scott is complaining about his phone tonight and cannot send me a “real time ” picture…….but I am at home alone, that is except for the dog and the cat.  Amanda is back at Zumba with Molly, and Scott and Ben are out on a “Boy’s Night” on the town.  They are hitting Chick-fil-A, and then seeing “Alvin and the Chipmunks, ” which will most probably bore both of them to tears.

But it has been a productive day here.  I have been working on our website all day and have created a “Podbean” account for it, which will allow us to publish sermons and stuff onto Podbean (our link is http://smaac.podbean.com/), Itunes, and our website.  I even published yesterday’s sermon onto it.  We will see how it goes.

THAT HOWEVER, doesn’t float my boat as much as hearing about what the boys are doing.  Scott and Ben are hilarious together, and occasionally (about monthly) they go on these little trips.  The stories are always funny, and I cannot wait.

The big news for the day is really not that as a PREVIEW of Wednesday’s blog……the day my wife is going to FALL APART.  Yes, today we completed the registration process.  Ben is officially a member of the student body of St. Mary’s School…….and Wednesday will be his first day!  He is excited, and Amanda is TRYING to ACT like she is under control.  On Wednesday however, she will be a sniveling mess!

So here is a Chick-fil-A picture (that I had to call and request).  They are having a time, and I am glad.  After all, Wednesday begins all the schooling…..and he is in for a life-long sentence!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+ 

I would like to say that I spent the afternoon enjoying a Chicago Bears’ victory in the playoffs, but that would just be delusional.  The Bears were nowhere near the playoff, although that is far closer still than the local favorite, the Indianapolis Colts, the difference is that the Colts’ fans will have the last laugh with the first draft pick.  I will most likely be angry yet again next year.

But today had really been quite odd.  I celebrated at two services with two sermons that were really very different.  I thought the first one was terrible, but after listening to it, it really was fine.  I will post most probably the second one within the next few days on our website St. Michael the Archangel Anglican Church, but I have not done so yet.  We are in the process of developing an account you can subscribe to….on podbean.com or iTunes.  But regardless, despite with good intentions, I delivered two different sermons.

Now however, I just want to go to bed.  I had envisioned today and it has not turned out like anything I had even considered a possibility.  So, I will just call it a day.

I hope tomorrow turns out a bit more like I want it to, but sometimes you need to just pack it in and think about the future……kind of like my beloved Chicago Bears.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

A day of confessions…..

Although I have a permit to carry, Ben is not quite old enough, but he does carry at home.  He actually has two six-shooters, given to him by “Cowboy Grandpa,” bust most often he wears just one…..on his right.  Ironically my dad, who for purposes of clarification he sometimes calls “Hospital Grandpa,” (my dad had a pretty serious health scare well over a year ago, but it has stuck), but my dad gave him the shirt in the picture.

And all of it makes this picture kind of cool, because Amanda’s dad is indeed a real-life cowboy, and my dad was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York….making Ben the second generation born outside of Brooklyn.  But the DNA of coming from a family of New Yorkers (real ones too, not those stupid (w)rapping wannabes) PLUS the whole cowboy DNA thing, will make him a force to be reckoned with. His grandfathers are the “real McCoy” of two pretty amazing and revered stereotypes of our culture, so all this is to say that his madness will come naturally……actually, it already shows.  He just may end up being the kind of guy that Navy Seals and Special Ops guys are afraid of…..who knows?

What I can confess is that he is about 178% boy.  And, he is 100% mine.

All my kids have their (let’s call it “unique”) personality quirks, but I cannot imagine having a better “herd” (as my mom would say).  But in all truth YOU, as the reader of this, need to get to work…….you need to pray for their future spouses and children.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

If I could figure out how to put him into a white hat in his picture I would, although it would probably burn his head.  But Father PT SAVED me (and Viper) once again.

I had an ice dam last year on the house and decided to install some heat cables.  What I soon discovered was that my ladders were NOWHERE NEAR tall enough to do the job.  So I found a guy in town with a very tall ladder her was willing to part with and made my way over in my truck (with my dog) to pick it up.

Of course the truck started in my drive and after I filled it with gas, but as I had the ladder on the truck and my dog ready to go and do some work, it didn’t start.  The guy who sol me the ladder tried to jump it, and had a battery charger, but it was to no avail.  But Father PT came and helped me take OUT the battery, go get a new one, put it in, and see me and my dog start up my truck and head home. Yee ha!

Of course he is driving the truck his wife let him by, while I am driving an old classic that I have now decided to sell.  PT suggested I take it and my car to the dealer…….I suggested that this would clearly be intentional suicide.

But the good news is that a battery later, I have a ladder and the ability at least, to install what I need to on my house.  What I didn’t have today was time.

But I am grateful for my good friend PT (as is Viper) who made today much more bearable than I could have imagined!

Thanks my brother!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

This may be the longest post I have ever written, but it is important.  I have been blessed in my life to have had the opportunity to meet some of the most impressive human beings on the planet in my humble opinion.  And tonight my thoughts go to two of them, one of which I have written about before.

The first is a high school teacher of mine, Marvin Wood.  He taught health, driver’s ed, and physical education.  He was also the basketball coach.  I was an ice hockey player and I was SHORT.  I never would have made the basketball team (I was VERY short), but Coach Wood was short too (my height).  He cared about his students, not in a patronizing way at all, when he spoke to you he was truly engaged, and he was one of the best teachers I have ever had or known.  And chances are, you may have some knowledge of him too.

You see, Coach Wood and his story was the inspiration for the movie “Hoosiers,” starring that little known actor Gene Hackman.  But unlike the movie, Coach Wood was not controversial.  He wasn’t in his 50’s, Milan High School was his first job out of college, and he never hit anyone.  He was just an all around first class guy.  And his belief in fundamentals not just won a State Championship (this is INDIANA….it is a BIG THING), but it taught me that any player can learn to be the “go to” player.  He affected my play as a hockey player and my coaching philosophy as well.  And, I had a pretty successful career in both.

The funny part was that we never knew he was that legend.  It clearly wasn’t important to him.  He cared about the people in his care, and not about glorifying himself.  THAT was a big lesson.  There are so many people who would wear that championship on their sleeve, and cash it in.  He never did.  I found out about what a legend he was when I had long graduated.  He always was focused upon the now.  AND, that was a valuable lesson.

I have coached for many years and I cannot even begin to tell you how he influenced me.  As a high school lacrosse coach we went to the Final Four in my second year and placed fifth in the state in my third.  I have now retired from coaching, but I will say I was influenced for sure. He died in 1999.

But that is the long way to tell you about the “other coach,” long time Notre Dame ice hockey coach, Coach Lefty Smith.  Lefty was the coach of the Fighting Irish at the time I was just beginning my playing career, and I was able to attend a few camps that he ran at Notre Dame.

What I can say is that I remember him vividly.  AND, what I will let you know is that too many camps I have been to in my life, in multiple sports, use players and assistants rather than the Coach.  But that was not so with Lefty.  I remember him being out on the ice with us, and I remember his instruction.  He was a legend, and yet at that age I had no stinking idea of how much I would love him.  Lefty died on January 3rd, yet I read that he graduated ALL 126 players that he coached during his career.  He was a man of INCREDIBLE integrity, and a giant in my young life.

A few years ago as a high school lacrosse coach I met his daughter, who was connected to St. Joseph’s High School in South Bend.  We had a LONG conversation about her dad.  I told her how much he meant to me, and asked her to pass that along.  I am sure she did,  It was very sincere too….he helped me to fall in love with the sport.  It continues to this day.

I learned of his death from a Facebook note from a friend.  She contacted me as her son is an ice hockey player as well and is now playing at Notre Dame!   She wanted me to know about Lefty dying on Tuesday.  I am eternally grateful.

You see, I learned a lot from him too.  And his impression on me made me want to be a better player, a better man, and later a better coach.

Coaches I have had throughout my life have molded me into the coach I am today.  And although I am not currently coaching, do not count me out.  I am only 50, and I have learned for legends…..at least to me.  And I DO intend to get back into the game.  After all, life full of adventure, and there is no better adventure than the game!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today is always a tough day for me, because it is my sister Stephanie’s birthday today, and had she not succumbed to the cancer in 2001 she would have been 49.  There’s no doubt about it….cancer sucks.  (My sister Sarah died from it in 2004)

But today always had me making my annual call to Steph to tell her how very ancient she was.  It always was met by the reminder that I was 18 months older, but it gave me great satisfaction anyway.  We were always digging at each other, which was an art we both perfected, but she was far more effective at than me.  Yep….better than perfect.  I did have the last laugh though, because I buried mom right next to her, which I am sure pleased my mom, but will irk my sister as she probably fantasized about burying her next to me.  But despite the rivalry of the two children of my mom who were not the “perfect one” (my sister Sarah – and yes, she never irritated mom like we did), I really did love and care for her….for both of them. AND, I miss them both terribly.

This year when we buried mom I got to go back to her grave and see my brother in law and his wife, and my niece Amelia.  Things change and life is way too short, but today I was thinking about all this, and decided I am really thankful for the life I have lived and the time I was able to spend with Steph.  I am far better for it.  Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t make her any less of a pain in my tail or the old coot she would have been today, but few guys ever get to have a sister like I did, and she is the best.

My daughter is named for her, and Scott would have been named Sarah if he were just a girl (but feel free to call him Sarah…he gets the joke).  But more than anything, I want her to know that despite the harassment, I loved her and still do.

And no, I will not apologize one bit for any “retaliation” on my part.  After all, she deserved it!

Rest in peace Steph, and today enjoy a margarita with Sarah, mom and our grandparents.  And if there are no margaritas, do not expect me any time soon.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I have been going through some professional training this past year, and am working to become a “certified” coach.  There are two two-day classes, both in the Washington DC area, and then a lot of practicum work.  The first class I already completed, and for regular readers you may remember that my plane trip home was delayed causing me to miss Scotty being awarded the MVP at his senior year lacrosse banquet.  I felt TERRIBLE that I missed it (by only 30 minutes) but there was not a lot I could do.  But I have felt pretty guilty ever since.  Now hold all this in your mind.

Let’s fast-forward to now.  My wife, who insists she never wins ANYTHING (but was able to have the wonderful and most awesome privilege of marrying me…what a liar, huh?) was SO EXCITED, as she put her business card into a fishbowl at the restaurant at the country club on the edge of our neighborhood and WON two free lunches.  She was SO excited, and I was excited for her.  But shortly thereafter she and Steph and Ben headed to Kansas to visit her mom.

It was from there she called me too.  Apparently, as one of the top performers at her work, her name was put into another drawing for two tickets to the SUPERBOWL in the Eli Lilly box at Conseco Fieldhouse.  …and guess who won?  That’s right, the woman who does not win anything yet had two free lunches and a trophy husband that people would die for.  And she was SO HAPPY, as was I…..we get to go to the Superbowl, even though the Bears will not be there…..and we can go and sit in perhaps one of the nicest boxes there, with parking, food, and drinks.  I was in heaven (even without the Bears).

But of course the SECOND HALF of that class I NEED and am REQUIRED to be at begins February 6th, the day after the Superbowl.  In addition to that, airline tickets out of Indy after the Superbowl are astronomical.  I could drive to Columbus, Ohio after the game to take a 6:30 AM flight into Dulles and rent a car, but not only would that mean NO SLEEP, but as a stroke survivor, I would be NO GOOD in the class, AND I would most likely FLUNK the exam.  There are no good options for me.  I needed to bow out.

So when Amanda called Scotty tonight as he was on his way to band practice, she asked him to pull over.  Good thing she did too.  He screamed with excitement!  She and Scott will see the Superbowl together.  AND, I will drive to DC as I am too principled to pay a million dollars to take a class and test just because the Superbowl is in Indy.  But I need to say that I do feel vindicated.  I have felt terrible for missing his MVP award, and now he will be pretty happy with a night of a lifetime.  He and Amanda will have a blast.  But it doesn’t really matter.

Because if the Bears are not in it, it is not worth going to anyway!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+  

As my kids and wife will tell you….I am the KING of trendy…….NOT!  I am about as out of touch as they come.  And it was very clear to me as Amanda, Ben, and I stopped today at the “Orange Leaf” frozen yogurt extravaganza shop….or at least I think that is what it is called.

First of all, the furniture is all from the 60’s….the decade in which I was born and desperately worked so hard to escape.  Why people think that stuff is cool I do not know.  I was a kid then, but the adults who ran everything were morons (thus the furniture and CLOTHES).  Why would you want to eat anything from a place with such judgement?

But there we were……them eating frozen yogurt and me watching?  Why?  Because yogurt is YOGURT. If you are going to eat something frozen, eat ice cream.  But who am I to make such a bold statement?  Gee whiz, the dining room chairs and all the appliances in my mom’s house were the same color as these yogurt chairs.  And look how well I turned out?  You would think that we could report them for a decorating violation or something.

But in truth these places are filled with people who look like they are forcing themselves to be happy to pay $5.00 for a yogurt and sit in a Tang-colored plastic chair as if it were some status thing.  I however, am committed to not giving in.

I have worn t-shirts, blue jeans (the manly kind), and plain white tennis shoes for as long as I can remember.  And give me a cheeseburger and a Bonnie Doon ice cream, but let’s not get all weird.  There is nothing wrong the drive-ins and hamburger joints, I love them myself.  But the orange furniture and the 60’s in general are past…..and I survived them!  There is just no need to make me do it all again!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Tonight we had “movie night” at the house and were able to watch the movie “Bolt.”  I do not watch many movies, but I have to confess it was pretty good.  And, quite surprisingly as a dog movie, it captured the attention of all of us except for the dog.

It would have been better if Steph were here with us, but tomorrow she starts class in Missouri.  She would have loved it though.  As for me, I suppose it is good to be able to escape from reality even now and again, and I have to say that I even laughed a quite a bit of it.  So many movies, even the ones that try to make you laugh, are filled with uncomfortable scenes that just make me wonder why I am watching.  This movie, thankfully, had none of those scenes.

What I can say is that tomorrow now worries me.  Ben will watch something and the next day he decides to “be” that something.  I am not opposed to him wanting to be Bolt mind you, it’s just that we do not have a dog costume…..plus we already have a dog.  It would be a change from Wolverine, Batman, and Spiderman though, and there is nothing wrong with a little variety.

Movie night was a great way to start out the year, and it was a great way to end a work day.  All the “dad stuff” is a lot of fun, and I thank God every day for the opportunity.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+