This is 40

So this is 40...

Why couldn't every year be 40...

Long ago, I figured that reaching 40 would be the end or at least the beginning of the end.

For awhile in my life I was confident I would not even see this day...

As well, when I speak to my 16 year ago, it reminds me how we all thought the world ended by 18 and or every weekend was our last...... lol..

Now that I am here, I could not be more pleased. After these years of experiences, I say with a great deal of confidence, I truly have NEVER been Happier, more Balanced and just overall Content.

I am in the best shape of my life Physically and Mentally.

Life is so precious, we often waste alot of time not living and just cruise along without smelling the roses, so to speak....  I certainly still need to slow things down and enjoy life even more in the years to come, and I intend to.. I have written a few blogs on my life's views, ect, ect.,won't bore you further with these insights. Well atleast for now!

Just want to say thank you to everyone I have experienced along my journey so far, good or bad, you've all had a huge part in who I am today. I would also like to take a moment to offer my apologizes to those I may have hurt intentional and or unintentional.

Life teaches you many valuable and often hard lessons, you have a choice to take these learning's to Improve or Harden....For those who know me, and for those of you who don't, trust me, I have become such a better person due to my overall life experience and still improving everyday....

I think I made a comment in a previous Blog about people changing and "you can't change someone else"....... I believe this is certainly the case for many ingrained maybe even genetic traits.....

But I do believe people can choose to change themselves; especially how they view life and how they behave.

I can only sum it up for me, in a very simple way / word: I just decided to "Care".

Care for myself, Care for my family, Care for my career, Care for a relationship..

Care for a stranger, Care for people who may judge.

Care enough in the given situation to speak up, help out, be present, listen, don't judge and support.

CARE, it's your Choice!

Thank you

Its been 6 months since the big day (wedding) and things are mostly back to normal. 

We got so much valued advice leading up to the wedding and so many great people involved in our big day and life overall. Figured I take a few minutes and summarize some of our wedding day thank you's, and add a few missed items that was over looked, due to the moment and mostly overwhelming emotions blocking thoughts.. :-)

The best advice we got leading up to the day, was "try and slow things down and enjoy each moment, try to mingle and ensure you interact with as many people as possible".

This was great advice, we did this and experienced such joy in every interaction and conversation. It was so rewarding seeing the personalized enjoyment people we experiencing.

Deanna and I wanted to build this great day not only to celebrate our union but more so to recognize our family and friends. We both believe whole heartily in sharing with others. 

We gained so much by sharing our day with the dearies people in our life, with people we know will be a huge part of our future. The day was filled with laughter, joy, happiness and tears; each of these moments are engraved in our minds and hearts.

We were blessed to have people travel to spend the day with us from all over the World and Canada. It was a long weekend and took place in Banff, not the most affordable and or convenient location to travel too. However our dear friends and family made no excuses, in most cases they actually went out of their way to join us and we can't tell you how appreciative we are for those who attended.

In our speech we could have went table by table, person by person and formalize personal thank you's, time didn't allow this, but please know how special each of you are.

We did have to thank a few people personally. 

We must thank all the people and groups associated with coordinating the day;

The Fairmont staff especially Mary Ann;

our DJ Fyhaz and Photographers, Sean and Cathleen;

Usher, Cody, Rory and Kevan;

Flower girl and Ring bearer, Davey and Dexter;

MC's, Kevan and Shane;

and a very special thank you to our Wedding Planner (Stephanie) and Lynn Fletcher Weddings, Stephanie truly made Deanna's dream wedding become a reality.

We both love our work and had many of our close friends from our groups in attendance. We are both extremely proud of our organization we represent and  pleased so many of our coworkers (friends) attended our wedding. 

We thanked the bridesmaids and groomsmen for standing with us, we are blessed to have such sincere and loyal friends. Within this special group we both had our best friend respectively by our side. They both mean a great deal to us, our long standing friendships are both built on a tight bond formed through many of life' s challenging and joyous experiences, we love them both!

We thanked our families and our parents and I now again provide special thanks to Dayna and Al (Deanna's Parents); who are our rock.

They are among the greatest people I personally have ever come across and knew the moment I met them that Deanna"s roots were solid and her foundation sound. She certainly is a combination of them both and it was easy for me to share her love for them. 

Dayna is the center of our family's universe, she is the master coordinator and we all revolve around her crazy whirlwind of emotions, ideas and love. 

Al is the anchor for the family and consistent voice of reason, the pillar that we all lean on. 

I've joke with Deanna many times if it wasn't for her wonderful family, I would have left her long ago..

JOKING BABE!!   --- love you.. :-)

Again, thank you to all for being part of our special day and thank you for sharing our life. 

Choose to Care....

She said YES

Well, if I go back through my blogs, I explain my thoughts on being a bachelor, then give you insight into this wonderful person I met and how she is the love of my life, and how she has shown me how to love and forgive again.

A couple weeks ago I asked that special women named Deanna to Marry me. I challenged her to spend the rest of our days together!!!! lol...  p.s  she said yes!!!!

It was probably overdue, yet it was a perfect and special moment. Won't get into the whole proposal, just will say I have never felt more sure about anything in my life up to that point, the sense of relief and joy was overwhelming.

The sense of confidence and certainty, with Deanna, is so powerful within me and within us. It is so amazing how one person can make another so complete, I have never been such an whole person and it is because I have her by my side.

I look back at all the wishes and blessings given to us by friends and family. With that said, what stood out, and was the most telling of what kind of person she is and the impact she has on me. Was when I seen the joy, happiness and kind words written by my kids towards our union and her directly...................   Oh boy.... that made me alittle teary eyed!!!!

Kids see through people and are not blinded by most things we adults often are...

They have grown to love her as much as I do, they saw many great qualities within her even before I did, they adore her and are excited to have this strong, kind, caring, classy, intelligent and precious person in their life to help guide and support them as they become unique people in their own right.

All I will say is that I love her, she is truly the Love of my Life and I adore her as well.

I have the utmost respect and appreciation for her and what she has added to my life / our life.

Everyday I wake to this beautiful person and every night I say goodnight to an angel.............

Choose to Care....

Love of my Life

.I set on a Saturday morning, watching Sport Center, alittle Wild TV and of course typing away, answering work emails...

My plans to hit the driving range is lost under the 6 "s of snow that fell last night. Edmonton!!!! Grrrrr.....

It's funny how once spring threatens to bloom, it starts your visions of what the year holds.

What will I focus on this year to better improve upon, Golf? the Gym? Hiking? Playing the Guitar? (Don't laugh). Or is it a love one, family, friends. Hell, why isn't it all of the above......

For me; I have found the love of my life, a wonderful person that fell into my lap and now makes all seem effortless and possible. I was told once, regardless of who comes into your life, they must be able to help you become a better person and visa versa. (trust me I 've had a life time of users and people around me that only want to use you / me for their own end goal!!!!!!)

It was once a belief of mine that it would be impossible to juggle all of life's balls, now I not only disagree with my past belief; I am a advocate for the opposite.

As you become a man and a balance person you not only can juggle all and any of life's per-verbal balls, you can mentor others on how to do the same.

Why you ask? Because you never do it alone!!

You may think, life, starts and ends with you, but we are creatures that need and are designed to be part of something. A family, a gang, a group, a company, whatever;

Furthermore, the seed to this is the need to be part of a union; a partnership that provides individual and dual benefit & support.

I for one, have finally found that, something & someone real to themselves and to us!

Someone that allows me to forgive myself, which eliminates past demons and villains.

A trustworthy and beautiful person that provides me with motivation and inspiration, that never seems to stop, nor apologize for her relentless love affair with me.

I have been molded to understand that unconditional love, is love that does not judge and is always, always there when you need it.

It is the love you have for your kids and your parents have for you.

To find it, finally, in a partner. Is a feeling of relief and power that can not be filtered through words or phrases.

But I will try by summing it up as; ------ I have found;  The Love of My Life.

I choose to Care....

2014 - Year in Review

Wow,

Is all I can say about 2014, one of the best years' of my life.

I received an opportunity to join a great company, was a little hesitant to make the change from leaving my own venture, however in all honesty, it has turned out to be the best career move I've ever made. The team is amazing, the ownership has made me feel like part of their family, and treated me with the utmost respect. It has been a long time since I have been so content and motivated.

Furthermore I believe my years' of experience, struggles and successes have aligned perfectly for me to lead this group into a very prosperous future.

The key to any great company is their people, our company had some unbelievable talent already in place, combined with the addition of a few people from my past that I was able to secure.  We have cemented the foundation for our leadership group, we have the blocks to / and will build a 1st class organization.

This past year, on July 26th, I took the leap of faith and got engaged to the love of my life. To have my career and personal life, be so balanced, is very powerful and allows me to be a very focused, open, reliable and consistent individual.

I took my fitness to the next level in 2014, with a revamped program and stringent diet, I have surpassed my goals and expectations. I will be 40 in 2015 and truly I have never been in better physical condition. For awhile now, I have committed to delete alcoholic from my life and this will further support and benefit my ongoing fitness goals. All my goals for that matter!!!!

My niece Latasha is doing great, she got settled more out west this year and has decided to stay permanently, which makes us extremely happy, she decided and I guess confirmed what she wanted to truly focus on for her career, and was accepted to the school of her choice, starting Sept, 2015.

I am very proud of the woman she has become and we are truly bless to have her as a huge part of our life.

Probably the greatest moment this year, was when my second oldest daughter moved in with us, late in the year. She is a very gifted child and needed to be in city, environment where she could grow and develop accordingly. To have her with us full-time is so rewarding and has filled a gap in my life, she is so special (like my children !!).

We traveled lots this past year, twice to Mexico, once with the kids for Deanna's sisters wedding and late in the year just her and I. We did a weekend trip to Vancouver and 10 day road trip to Vegas for a friends wedding and then onto California,(Santa Monica) with a final stop in San Francisco.

Well planned because my Chicago Bears were playing the 49ers that weekend.

Yes you are right I had nothing to do with that.. hehehe  :-). 

We also had a chance to see the World Series winning Giants play that same weekend.

The Year in Review, short and sweet, just like the year.

Best Wishes to you all, and I hope your 2015 will be a wonderful year for you, as I pray it will be another great year for me and my loved ones.

Choose to Care....