Tag: heart

TommyLog – Just Don’t Panic

This morning during our morning prayers I said something bit different than I normally would say. Becky and I are planning on taking a little mini get-a-way to Madison this weekend. Drew does not handle change very well and Mom sometimes gets stressed when we have timelines to get everything done. So in my prayer I said “Don’t panic” thinking that was aimed at those 2, but little did I know it was pointed at me.

A few hours ago I got word that my father needs to have bypass surgery on heart. After a quick prayer of my own and a short chat with Dad on the phone, I am calm, cool and collected. This is the 1st time dad has ever been admitted to a hospital. Not too bad for a guy entering his 76th year. There’s a reason that my sister Nancy, a RN and her family live in Pittsford with my Mom and Dad. THANK YOU so much for your selfless services and being there for them!

Thank you Heavenly Father for the right words to say this morning and thank you for allowing me to take them to heart.

I love you dad, everything is going to be okay. No need to panic!

TommyLog – Getting Older

This morning at the gym I was watching On Golden Pond and thoughts of getting old and aging flooded my mind. Terrible topic for working out to, BTW, but I digress. made me think about getting older and what my kids think and how I can work to stay young. You are only as young as you feel.

What keeps you feeling young at heart?

Classy is as Classy Does

Japan Airlines business class seat
Image via Wikipedia

Today is my 14th anniversary at my place of business. I love my job and I love the people I work with. Over my 14 years I have met many-a-people, but I’m pretty sure this one person ranks “Best in Class” if not best ever. For this example we will call him John. John was a sales guy at our organization and I had the opportunity to go on many a sales calls with him as the tech rep. I loved going on the road with John has he always made the trip pleasurable. John has shown by example how to excel. I think you’ll see why.

After each business trip I took with John, he would always send a hand written note on personal stationary. This is just the coolest thing ever. Its amazing to get a note saying thank you. Who many times do you help someone and not even get a smile or thank you.  I have worked with sales people who would not even pick you up at their airport, let alone send a thank you card. Little notes of appreciation really make the difference!! This example has shown me how to be a better person as I now send out thank you cards from time to time. The impact of a thank you card is HUGE!

The second example that John is to me brings me back to my 14th anniversary. John left the company a few months back, but this AM, I received a personal email from John congratulating me on my milestone. John is always good for a birthday wish and an anniversary phone call or email. Even away from his old job, he still remembers his co-workers. What a shining example.

The last example of how John has influenced my life took place about 5 or 6 years ago. We had the opportunity to fly to a customer site together. Nothing very remarkable about that… it gets better. While on a layover in Chicago‘s O’Hare Airport, we had some flight issues. I’m not sure exactly what took place but we need to get re-ticketed for our flight. John asked for my ticket and graciously took care of the heavy lifting. After a few minutes in line, he handed me back my boarding pass and I didn’t think another thing of it. Well that was until the ground crew started boarding and asked for the first class passengers. Oh course I paid no attention until John punched me in the arm and said “Hey that’s you..look at your ticket man.”

No sooner did I look at my boarding pass and I noticed I was seated in seat 1A. What the…how did I get a first class ticket? Well here’s the back story. While taking care of the re-ticketing, John used some of his frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class, but he used them on my seat. He sat in coach and I sat in first class.

John has to be the classiest person I have ever worked with, bar none. He is a shining example of a great father, husband, co-worker and I’m proud to call him a friend. There are so many ways he has influenced my life. All who know him know exactly what I’m talking about. While I sat in first class, the real first class sat in coach! Thanks John.

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