A Story for Holly
Holly is one of my favorite people. She is beautiful, blond, and cheerful. She is very good at what she does, and willingly takes on new assignments and learns new skills. But today wasn’t her day. Her daily work has been a real challenge for her lately. The company where she works is moving locations, and much of the coordination and communication passes through her. Not necessarily because...
May 30th, 2008 by ssh
I Can Do It Myself
My son Gabriel is 6. Since his sisters are so much older than he is, he ends up being the little boy with three mommies. He’s great, though. All boy, and yet with a special affection for others. He’s awesome. He’s growing, though, and breaking through into new things that he can do. Lately, it’s been about pulling the pitcher out of the ‘fridge and pouring it himself....
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
The Finger of God
This morning, a huge storm crashed across northern Colorado, spreading a mile-wide tornado across the town of Windsor and spawning a number of smaller twisters in neighboring communities. Even though they live near the path of the storm, my in-laws were spared most of the devastation that you can see on the videos and photos on CNN and other news sites. They’ll spend the night with my sister-in-law...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
It Depends on Your Definition
Earlier today I got a great question from Annie Black, a great friend, amazing skier, and someone who is focused on her own improvement. She also has to be the person who is at work tempting me to join her group for a helicopter skiing trip to Revelstoke next January… but that’s not what her email was asking me. After she read my “Get Tough” email, she asked me a question that...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
Get Tough
This past weekend I was back in Tampa at the Tampa Airport Marriott hotel. It was warm in Tampa, and there was some nice moisture in the air. For those of us who live in drier climates like Colorado, it’s nice to get a tase of that moisture once in a while. But, the hotel was super-cooled. The air conditioning was on full blast, and people were wearing jackets in the meeting rooms and then heading...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
Steps to Your Dreams (part 3)
Last summer, Terry and I spent a great week in Maine. We stayed near Bar Harbor just outside Acadia National Park. We hiked a few of the hundreds of trails there, had high tea at the famous Jordan Pond restaurant, and I ate lobster stew as often as I could find it. What reminded me of it? As I sat on my flight today, United played an OLN production called “Park Raving Mad.” In it, two guys...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
Steps to Your Dreams (part 2)
This e-mail has been a long time coming. I’ve sat at my desk more than once to write it, written a good chunk, and then erased it in the computer equivalent of wadding up the paper and tossing it into the trash. This afternoon, it’s beautiful here in Colorado. The springtime air is full of the fragrance of new blossoms, and the mountains are covered with a new layer of snow. With that natural...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
Steps to Your Dreams (part 2)
This e-mail has been a long time coming. I’ve sat at my desk more than once to write it, written a good chunk, and then erased it in the computer equivalent of wadding up the paper and tossing it into the trash. This afternoon, it’s beautiful here in Colorado. The springtime air is full of the fragrance of new blossoms, and the mountains are covered with a new layer of snow. With that natural...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
Steps to Your Dreams (part 1)
This morning as I sat down in my seat on the plane to Chicago, I thought about you. There in seat 13J on a United 777, I sat thinking about your life and your dreams and what little I know about them. But how committed I am to seeing you achieve them. After all, as I often hear echoing in my memory: you are designed for accomplishment. You are engineered for success. You are endowed with the very seeds...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
What Do You See?
At 13,000 feet, the air gets a little thin and the wind seems much stronger, especially when you’re hiking a ridge line with skis on your shoulder. That’s where I found myself yesterday during an outing to produce video for the on-line version of “The Encyclopedia of Skiing.” High atop the East Wall of Arapahoe Basin, we picked our way over rocks and snow to the entrance of...
May 24th, 2008 by ssh
