That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew –

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untresspassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

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The 2016 Class of Marshall University

Earlier this week my wife and I took her daughter (my bonus daughter) to Marshall University. It’s been an emotional week.

The “first day of college” has changed significantly since I went away to school 27 years ago. I recall my parents helping me load my stuff into my dorm room and then me “suggesting” it was time for them to head back to Charleston. I recall feeling very alone that first night, until I ran into a couple people I knew and going out for pizza. I still remember Todd Rodeheaver, my RA. The first thing he said to me when he walked into my dorm room was “Nice stereo,” as I was putting components together. “Just keep it down.” I have no idea what happened to “Rodie” after he graduated. He was in the ROTC. I believe he went into the regular Army as an officer.

At Marshall University (Beverly and I are both alumni) and where we were dropping off our daughter, the freshmen report a few days before the rest of the campus. The only upper classmen around were the RAs, the athletes and the band. The freshmen had two full days of programming scheduled to get them acclimated to the campus and ready for school. I like the process because I remember feeling a little lost as I walked around campus that first week. Do freshmen make better grades? Do they stay in school longer? Are they happier? I’m sure someone is measuring this stuff.

I wanted to stay out of the way as much as I could this trip, giving Bev and her daughter time to spend with each other. So, after we delivered her stuff to her dorm room, I made myself scarce. That meant I spent a lot of time hanging around the Memorial Student Center. I found myself looking for faces I knew. I had a brief fantasy that I was going to wake up from a dream, that it was 1985, and I was back in school. Obviously, that didn’t happen. It just so happens, my bonus daughter is now living in the same dorm as my first girlfriend in college. It struck me that I don’t recall much of that time.

Ironically, the one person I saw on campus that I recognized that day was Rick Haye, the Marshall University photographer. I worked for him for a couple semesters as a work study intern. Mostly, I processed black and white film and made some prints in the darkroom, but it was a tremendous learning experience. There’s no doubt in my mind that my time at Marshall studying Journalism and then working for Rick set me on the career path that has led to some pretty amazing adventures.

Someone once told me the friendships you make in college are the most intense, and the most short-lived, of your life. I’m still close to a few friends from college and I am thankful for that continued friendship. It’s odd to me that I don’t remember the names of many of the people I was inseparable with during those days. We laughed together, studied together, had way too much to drink together, ate together and “grew up” together. Some left after that first semester. Others made it a year or two. And some of us went that “whole nine yards” to graduation.

I hope and pray that my bonus daughter has the same positive experiences that Bev and I had at Marshall. The first day or two has been a little rocky, but I know it will get better soon. Just stick with it and be the strong, independent and creative young woman we all know you are.

Go Herd!.

Last night I saw a post on Facebook from Teresa, a high school classmate. She’s going back into the hospital for more radiation treatments and surgery on a brain tumor. From the sounds of it, this is something she’s been dealing with for several years now.  When I read it, I immediately said a prayer for Teresa and her family. And her family is key to this. Every time she posts an update on her situation, she mentions her daughter and how difficult everything is for her.

Teresa is struggling with her own health. I’m sure she’s scared. But, she wasn’t complaining about her problems. She was just letting people what was happening.  In yesterday’s post, she asked for prayers for her health and then said “I will pray, too that I can just be a mom and raise my sweet daughter!” She just wants to be healthy so her daughter won’t worry any more. As parents, we try to shelter our children from the bad things in life. But there’s no way to shelter your child from something like that. And you know that has to be hard on both of them.

In general, I’m an optimistic person and I get very frustrated when I hear people complain. People all around just seem so angry all the time. They complain, they criticize and they argue. And it seems to be getting worse. Earlier in the day, I heard an announcement that a professional wrestling show was coming to town. My first thought was that we have become a culture of professional wrestling. We act as if it’s normal to be angry; to yell and scream at each other, to take cheap shots and hit people with chairs.

And then I see someone like Teresa who’s going through some very bad times, but she isn’t complaining. I’m sure she gets down and complains from time to time, but that doesn’t seem to be how she lives her life. She’s just trying to do the best she can and do everything she can to get healthy.

I know nothing in my life is even remotely as stressful as what Teresa is dealing with. So, I’m choosing her as my inspiration. If she can keep working, trying and pushing forward while she deals with a brain tumor, I have no reason to complain about anything.

I will keep Teresa and her family in my prayers. And I will be thankful for everything I have.

I hope you do the same.

UPDATE: I just saw a few minutes ago that Teresa passed away this morning, April 23, 2013. My prayers go out for Teresa and her family. The following is a link to Teresa’s Caringbridge for her friends and family..

About 72 hours ago, West Virginia, parts of Ohio and Virginia got hit by a derecho (I had no idea there was a word for it) with straight line winds of nearly 80 miles per hour. It toppled trees, downed power lines and generally made a mess of the place.

The biggest upside to not having any power has been that I have seen an incredible number of fireflies the last few nights. The neighborhood has been totally dark. The downsides are obvious. As a culture we just aren’t set up to survive without electricity. Our homes are built around it.

On Saturday, I was thinking that I was proud of how people were pulling together. There were no disaster stories of people screaming for FEMA and looking for someone to help them. Since then, unfortunately, I’ve heard a few stories of people acting selfish, stealing generators or even throwing spoiled food on electric company workers trying to restore power. I’m sure those are isolated cases. They are definitely not representative of the people I’ve run across. It raises the question in my mind that since there is a federal state of emergency, does committing a crime such as stealing a generator become a federal crime?

On the whole though, I’ve been impressed. The situation has been difficult, but people have pulled together and helped each other out. And that has made me very proud of my neighbors, in the broadest sense of the term. Republican, democrat, whatever, it hasn’t mattered these last few days. People are doing what they can for each other.

Every time I see a power company truck, either local or out of state, I give them a thumbs up and say thank you when I can. Those guys are working their tails off. We tried to cook them some hotdogs for lunch today but couldn’t find any unspoiled.

As I said, I’m proud of my fellow West Virginians. In tough times, it is all about helping each other.

Update: Just a few hours after posting this, my power came back on. I was extremely grateful, but am still very aware that others are still without power, nearly seven days later. It is a long, slow, difficult process and I am still praying for the men and women who are working in extreme heat to get everyone back on the grid.

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I took this photo from a helicopter. It’s Charleston, WV about 15 years ago.

Just before I left West Virginia to take a job in California 14 years ago, one of my best friends looked at me and said “Don’t get above your raisin’.” For those of you not from the south or not fortunate enough to speak a dialect of “country” that means don’t forget where you came from. I never forgot that admonition and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying true to who I am.

That’s not to say I haven’t grown or changed as the years have gone by (if you’re not continually growing and changing, then you’ve stagnated and are dying) but the foundation that makes up the person you are is always with you.

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