Sis, Wow!!!!

Today my “little/younger” sister turned 40 years old. My goodness how time flies and I have a younger sister who is 40 years of age. One of my earliest memories was when she was born. I was about 3 ½ years old and when she was born she had to have an operation for a double hernia. I can vividly remember standing in our living and my father explaining what was happening to my newborn little sister. Thankfully everything went well that day and she is flourishing some forty years later with a wonderful family of her own. I did have the honor and privilege of visiting her last weekend where I had such a great time. My “little” sister is such a great person and I can’t say enough of how much support I have received from her over the years. She never wavered and showed such compassion to not only me but to my entire family. Thank you sis and Happy Birthday!!!

I was back at it early this morning as I made my way to the gym. I needed the day off yesterday with all the travel and running around I had done in the past few days. My workout was very good and yes, it was another “interesting” day in the office. My day went well as I got those “goals” accomplished and I am continually amazed how our company operates. There are two distinct parts of our business. We are in the recovery business but in order to get that business a considerable amount of marketing must happen. I haven’t been around this industry very long (about one year now) but I have made some observations. There appears to people who get into this business to help those in need of recovery. There are also people in this business who get into to it for the money.

There are drawbacks for each of those categories because in my opinion too much of one thing is a detriment. Those who get into it to just help people don’t really understand the business model needed in the area of marketing because if there aren’t any people in your facility to help then how can they receive help. Those who get into it for the money are missing the clinical portion of helping people because if those people don’t receive quality care the business will cease to exist. I think our facility is somewhere in between these two because we do deliver a quality of care and our partners certainly understand the marketing component needed. It is remarkable how far they have come in only five years. The company was founded with 14 beds and now has 54 beds which by the way were full as of this week.

I first met one of the partners nearly 4 years ago as I attended the Problem Gambling Counselor Training session. I wanted to immerse myself in recovery and I thought this would be a great way. Unbeknownst to me one of the partners was attending this same training session and one thing led to another and we have been friends ever since. We started to car pool to the training and it was a long lasting friendship. I have been extremely fortunate in every aspect of my life and even as I served my term I always thought about this partner. Upon my release I was given an opportunity to assist another facility and even when that didn’t work out as planned this opportunity arose as a direct result of that opportunity. There is such a strong path and such a connection to recovery I am eternally grateful. Now my responsibilities have increased and everything is going very well.

This afternoon was “double booking” with my daughter having a softball game and my son having a baseball game. My son plays his baseball games about a half mile from my office and thankfully with my wife’s new work schedule she is able to get the children to and fro their sports activities. My daughter’s game commenced about a 30 prior to my son’s game so my wife had to make that her first stop then she proceeded to take my son to his field. I had some things I needed to finish up in the office but made it a point to get to my son’s game in time for the first pitch. I was able to arrive a few minutes earlier and once again found myself with the team as an assistant coach. The team looked very good and yes, these games with the kid pitch are different from last season’s machine pitch. There isn’t nearly as much scoring as there was with the machine pitch and the innings last longer. The kids do a great job of pitching and I can see the joy on my son’s face as he sits behind the plate waiting for the first pitch. He loves being the catcher and I am so glad we gave him the opportunity to catch last season. He is involved with every pitch and did a great job today.

My son’s team was victorious 4-2 and my son had one hit in two at bats. He did indeed do very well behind the plate and the head coach must like him because he only came out in the last inning as the coach gave another player a try behind the plate. It was great standing in the dugout watching my son play baseball and I look forward to a very good season through and through. I don’t care if my son’s team wins or loses every game. As long as my son is having a good time and learning something in the process I think that is all that matters. This also goes for his teammates. These kids are only 7 and 8 years old and need to learn the fundamentals of the game before competition can ensue. I don’t understand why some coaches have the need to win at all costs especially at this level. I think the moniker of coach should be changed to “teacher” especially when dealing with youngsters of this age. Anyhow it was a great way to end the day on the baseball diamond.