It was a tough year- the toughest in a long time.

Last year was a crazy transitional year. I cut off my hair – like Joan Jett style- to see what it would look like coming in grey (not to mention I had people around me that said, “do it! Its hair, it will grow back!” From friends telling me after 2 drinks- “What did you do to your hair?” to friends saying, “If you like it, who cares?” And the gut punch of my grandson asking me, “How long will this last?” Kids are so honest.

This week, the final domino fell for us, having lost our beloved black lab Oliver. I called him Braveheart because he was just that for me. He lived almost 15 years and was picked out and brought home by Carl. I recall Adyn calling me at work and saying, “Dad brought home a puppy,” and me responding with “wrong number” and hung up. (sigh)

This moment.

Maybe it has taken me 7 years to get to this moment, to realize that what I am doing is for this very moment – this snapshot in time.

Don’t give up now. For LOLA, I have to admit I have witnessed and listened to families grieve like NEVER before. While some people may take this post as a political message, I say to you this ~ Death is not political.

Glass half full or half empty… As we entered into July, I knew I needed to evaluate the year, how far have I come and how far do I have to go to reach my 2020 goals?

Meltdowns were happening before we all had to go home. We would call each other and tell each other how much work we had and how busy we were and how tired we were...