An Unbreakable Code, Hope Kids, A Fireplace, and A Beautiful Sunrise

“When we cannot share our values any longer, and our incipient intentions have become blurry, common understanding may turn into irredeemable misunderstanding. If the spirit of common perspectives and commitments has irreversibly been broken, we might patently drift down into suspicion, remorse, or regret. As such, shared initiatives ought to be reasoned and well-thought-out to avoid ‘understanding’ becoming ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘hope’ breaking down into ‘heartbreak.’ (“The unbreakable code”)”
— Erik Pevernagie

I got up, made my coffee, sat with my pup, and made some word soup.  I cleaned up a few emails; I always get my inbox down to zero unread.  Moring and five or so are always my goals; morning is usually a lock, evenings might be touch and go.  

Last night I didn’t arrive home until 8:30; I worked until 10:00, took a walk with my Queen, then got ready to do something I rarely do.  I used to golf a lot, but my time is compressed; it was one thing I had to give up.  But my friend Howie has a nonprofit that helps kids with cancer; it’s a family-centric program that has changed many lives.

For Howie and his kids, I’ll sponsor a team and then give freely during the day; his group and program are magic.  To learn more about Howie and his program and maybe make a small donation, visit here:

https://www.hopekids.org/colorado-chapter/

I drove about an hour (I no longer drive an hour), but I did and met my friend Brandon there.  Brandon is a local celebrity, an architect, teacher, and fixture in our community.  Many of the best designs came from Brandon and his wife, who is also his business partner.  He does about ten projects a year and turns away more business than he takes.  He and his family are going to Italy next year, he will teach, and they will spend eight weeks there.

How did I meet this wonderful human being?  My wife, me, my friend Kurt, and his wife had a silly idea to open a speakeasy in Indianapolis between our two homes.  We found our space, did a budget, had an architect draw up plans, and my job was to find successful speak easy’s and interview the owners for tips and tricks.  Sean, my cousin’s friend, found Brandon, introduced us, and I spent a couple of hours while he poured out his experience and what not to do when opening a bar.

Fast forward a year or two; he gets nationally recognized as one of the top speak easy’s in the nation and the best gin bar in America, and what does he do?  He sells it.  He pulled a  “Seinfeld” folks; he was on top and said, “thank you, I’m going to be a dad, husband, and teach.”   Brandon is about as selfless as they come; he’s a great dad, husband, community leader and has a way of spewing kindness wherever he lands.

Our foursome was made up of another man, Knight Hinman.  Knight, another friend I met in Denver, is a decent golfer.  He’s a 9.5 handicap; he was our A-player, I helped. Brandon and our fourth had some shots that saved us many times.   Knight will use our home for his wedding; he needed a venue; we are attending our friend Dave and Anna’s wedding the same day, our home is now a two-time wedding venue!

Our fourth was the infamous Bay, the best man in my wedding, the sister to our son-in-law, gin player extraordinaire, and a teammate on our team.  She stayed with us last night; she’s running appointments in our area, it didn’t make sense for her to drive to the condo.

The day was going well; we finished 17, and I had left my glove and sand wedge at the top of the green.  Bay pointed at it; I jogged back to pick it up.  As I returned to the cart, my other teammates got in, but I had to navigate a rock and bridge combo.  I stepped on a rock; it gave, my foot became a fulcrum between the wood and stone.  I felt my chin hit hard, pull out my foot, and began to walk, saying to myself, “that was lucky.”   As we headed to 18, we noticed a couple of tents; there was a long drive hitter there to help us with our final drive.

As he was beginning his talk, his eyes went to my leg and, in horror, said, “what is wrong with your leg?”  I, for the first time, looked down and saw blood and a swelling chin.  At first look, it looked like I broke it, but I could put total weight on the leg, with little or no pain.  We ended the round; I was given a large bag of ice and some tape and headed home.   I should point out, if you have thought, didn’t Anson fall about 25 feet a couple of years ago.  I was, and after yesterday’s near miss, I’m calling myself unbreakable.  A fair question to ask was, “Were you drinking?” And I would share we had a couple of seltzers on the front, one on the back, but we had all switched to Gatorade hole 12; I was sober as a tea toddler.

I got up at 4:45 a.m. today; I’m penning some soup, then will get to work; I have a board meeting downtown Denver.  For the first time in 18 months, I will make the hour drive to my board meeting and see everyone in person.  I look at the drive as a waste of time, one hour there, one hour back, that’s two hours I’m losing in productivity to meet in person.  But they want to meet in person, and I have no issues getting up a little early to meet my board. 

The sunrise at 5:07 a.m. is a mix of orange, red, pink, and blue.  I have my fireplace burning to my right; it gets chilly up here even in mid-June. My wife and Bay have some meetings to run in town, I’ll do my board meeting, and then I have some other stops to make.  I will choose to make this a good day, and I suggest you do the same.  You have the power to deem your days, make good choices.

“When we cannot share our values any longer, and our incipient intentions have become blurry, common understanding may turn into irredeemable misunderstanding. If the spirit of common perspectives and commitments has irreversibly been broken, we might patently drift down into suspicion, remorse, or regret. As such, shared initiatives ought to be reasoned and well-thought-out to avoid ‘understanding’ becoming ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘hope’ breaking down into ‘heartbreak.’ (“The unbreakable code”)”
— Erik Pevernagie