Videos

TommyLog – Think About Others First!

Hey Kids it’s dad, and for today’s Tommylog I want to talk to you about a sad story I heard about over the weekend. It seems there was a teenage girl who is live streaming while she was driving. She got in a terrible wreck and her sister and their passenger were ejected from the vehicle. Instead of calling 911, this distracted teenage driver picked up her phone and started live streaming the scene again. So let me get this straight, while her sister was dying from the injuries of the crash, instead of calling for help, she felt it necessary to continue live streaming from the scene of the accident.

What a terrible state of affairs here. There is so much wrong with this story. The answer in the situation is simple.

Think about others first.

If this gal had thought about others, chances are this accident never would’ve happened. But the accident did, and she had an opportunity to do something about it. Instead of calling authorities to tend to her dying sister, she decided to go back and start live streaming the event again. I just shake my head listening to the story. Such sadness all the way around.

Kids, put others first. Help those in need, give back. I promise you if you think about others first, things like this will never happen.

I love you.

TommyLog – Give Blood – Selfless Service

Hey Kids it’s dad, and today I did something a little bit different. Today I went and donated blood. It is been a long long time since I donated blood. I honestly didn’t even want to do it. But their phone calls convince me that I needed to give blood. I had a bad experience many years ago, my own fault. I did some strenuous work after donating blood, and I got sick. I own that.

But I did it. I donated blood. The people there could not be nicer. The most simple process. Show your ID, answer some questions, get your finger prick and blood pressure checked. Donate blood! Then you get punch and cookies. What a deal.

It wasn’t till I was walking away that it really hit me. I just did something for somebody, that they couldn’t do for themselves. People who donate blood give of themselves. It’s a totally selfless act of service.

Made me think of other service. Opportunities where I crab and kick and scream before hand, but then I’m so thankful that I went and did it.

Thank you to the community blood Center and for all the volunteers and hard workers.

I’ll be back!

TommyLog – Struggles Make You Stronger

Hey Kids, it’s Dad. Boy has it been a whirlwind few weeks. Grandma and grandpa coming to town, graduations, summer school starting, meeting new cousins, Drew’s baptism! Man we sure have been busy. But I’ve also been slacking on my TommyLog duties. I love doing these videos and for some reason I just haven’t had it… But now I’ve got it. I’m here!!

 

The Clifford family is full of struggles. We all struggle. Madeline, Clara, Tommy, Emma, Drew, mom and dad. We each have our own personal, financial, work and relationship struggles. Absolutely nobody is immune to struggles.

We all have confrontation also. I don’t like confrontation and unless I have facts and data. I always like to write out my thoughts. Helps me organize and be fair to both sides of the equation. Sometimes it takes days weeks and maybe even months of thinking and writing and rewriting to get my thoughts out straight. I was talking with a good friend this morning regarding confrontation. Few people like confrontation. I’m not good at it. But I’m trying to get better. I’m trying not to make it about me. If I make it about growing stronger together, things seem to work out better.

But remember, our struggles make us stronger!

 

TommyLog – Mountain to Climb – Be More Like Richard

Hey Kids it’s Dad, and today I want to talk about something really special that happened at Clara’s graduation. I went there expecting to be a teary eyed mess watching my daughter cross the stage. I was certainly a teary-eyed mess, but not for that reason. Sometimes it’s the unexpected things that catch you off-guard.  This unexpected tender moment happened when Clara’s elementary school friend Richard took the stage to get his certificate. You see Richard has special needs and is been in a wheelchair all his life. Clara and Richard have been good friends since fourth grade. Clara would sit next to him at lunch and went over all just be his friend. Clara has always had a warm spot in her heart for Richard.

OK back to the story. So when Richard’s mom wheeled him up to the podium to get his diploma, the whole audience was silent. One of the people on stage brought Richards walker up so he could walk to get his diploma. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house with yours truly leading the way. It was an amazing moment. Sadly Richard was not able to completely walk to get his diploma. But that’s not the point of the discussion. The point is how high of a mountain he had to climb to get where he was. I’ve been to high school, I know the amount of effort needed to graduate. And I know many of those kids coasted through high school, I know I did.

But then I look at Richard, and what he was able to accomplish. He did things no one thought he would ever be able to do and now he’s a high school graduate!

Kids we all have mountains to climb. But we need to give it our all. Richard gave everything he had to get where he is today. We all need to use Richard as our example. We all need to be a lot more like Richard!

TommyLog – Senior Scholarship Awards Night

Hey Kids it’s Dad and for today’s Tommy log I want to talk to you about Clara’s senior scholarship dinner. Every year Little chute high school, and Little Chute Career Pathways Academy have an end of the year scholarship dinner. This year’s dinner was amazing. There were over 70 scholarships given out during the 3 hour program. Scholarships ranging from $250 all the way up to full four-year ride scholarships were given out. Clara walked away with seven scholarships. What an amazing proud Dad moment.

Congratulations Clara and congratulations to all the award winners. What an all star group and and remember kids that hard work pays off!!