LH's Blog

You amaze me! I look at you and it makes me want to be a better person. To many times I see this but forget, get to busy or am embarrassed to tell you. To many times in life we don’t see what others see in us. We can never truly be all that people see us as (or we’d all be super heroes) and therefore we don’t see it. But know you inspire and amaze me! I have built my life on my word and my deeds but you only make we want to do more. As I sat in four funerals last year, I was dumbfounded by one thought: did I tell them what they meant? Sadly I hung my head in shame. To many times we stand at the end and speak of a life but they did not know it and they dang sure ain’t hearing it at that point. Even as you read this you have no idea what you did, said or caused me to write this. This is not a futile attempt to announce some disease that is taking my life, I want you know what you mean to me without a cause. In your eyes I see hope and that helps we keep my faith. With your laughter I hea...

NO FEAR my ass, I am scared to death! For me I find this statement concerning. I have spent a large portion of my life in the service of others. Be it as a soldier, a security professional or a pseudo parent protection has been my life for longer than I care to remember. During my rough and tumble life I have been on both side of the coin, I have done good things for/too bad people and bad things for/too good people with ramifications that left scars all over my life. During my career I have seen great people and had the pleasure to speak candidly about some of the work they did. Across the board from all I spoken to, they all point to the standard definition of hero “one who does the job even though fear is paramount”. It is amazing that most never consider themselves hero’s just people doing the job as needed. In that I see and feel the same driving force: fear (like pain) reminds me I am alive and guides me. Fear makes me think, rethink, prepare, pack, unpack and repack. I vividly r...

Funny how life can trigger a memory by a mere smell, glance or song and today it did again. As I listened to Alabama sing “Feels so right” I was transported back to 4H Congress dance from my formidable years. Since I was able to walk my parents made me speak in public (and thank you for it) especially in 4H and FFA affiliated activities. Well little did I know how far or what a benefit that would be. As I spoke at the NC state level 4H competition for several years I began to make friends and have my little crew with me. We did it all together and were inseparable but being pre internet and Facebook we did little in talking over the year so we made up for it when we could. Being a teenager at a large competition of other teenagers was daunting but crazy rewarding. We had the run of NC State University in the summer and we demonstrated our zest for life in all we did. I vividly remember a girl name Helena from 4H camp. She was everything beautiful and different (thanks Keith Urban “Stup...

Life is such a beautiful gift which we often squander. Possessions, fame, notoriety and simple vain drama leads us to merely travel through life. As I stated on Facebook the other day, I fought to get into this world and my life is a constant struggle, yet I cherish every second of it. Several times I have looked into the darkness and had it look back only to awake me from my momentary lapse of reason and fight for my life. Never do we fight as hard as we do when life is involved. Be it ours, a loved one or in the line of duty we fight for life. Yet so many of us do not own the life we are given. As Americans we believe in a rich life filled with stuff and status points, sadly though many of us are not living. Life is for the living and not those merely burdened by the “status possession monster”. Sound like a load of crap? Do yourself a favor and ask yourself some questions. As you sit alone and honest with yourself be truthful and ask if you are living or surviving. I often am survi...