Dear Class of 2020,
I’m sorry. I won’t even pretend to say I understand, because I have no idea what you’re going through.
Something has been stripped away from you that has never before happened in history – that I’m aware of anyway.
Frankly, it sucks.
(more…)
God wastes nothing.
My mom was a prison guard for 10 years at Church Farm in Jeff City. I can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday, but still remember the phone number there. 751-2053. A debilitating car accident in 1994 ended that job for her and changed our lives forever.
Sometime in 200?, I picked my dad up from prison. His DOC # was 232404. A debilitating addiction eventually took his life.
In October 2018 my boss gave me a promotion and invited me to become part of the ReEntry team, going into the prisons and helping inmates transition back into the workforce.
That morphed into more than I ever could have imagined, with the opportunity to write a curriculum teaching men and women personal and professional development. Starting next week I’ll be taking that curriculum into a third facility.
2019 was a BIG year. A year where I caught my breath, held my breath, lost my breath, and caught it again.
I started 2019 playing the air guitar, with a little less fear of what others thought about me than the year before. I started 2020 playing the air guitar, with a lot less fear of what others thought about me than the year before. It felt nice. But my knees hurt a little more this go around. Lay off the sugar, Sundi Jo.
I experienced adventures, drama, comedy, and heartbreaks.
Last week I told you I met someone and couldn’t wait to introduce them to the world. Well.. the time has come. I hope I don’t regret this…
Meet Tooty Mae Woolley, my 3rd cousin twice removed…
I met Tooty Mae a few months ago at the Larry’s Country Diner show in Branson, Mo. When I heard her last name, I knew we had to be related. There just aren’t too many people in the world with the name Woolley.
I was having coffee with my step-dad the other morning and we were talking about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’m kidding, but that sounded good. We were actually talking about vacations to exotic locations where you have to eat foods you can’t pronounce and exactly how he planned on talking my mom into doing that.
As we continued to talk he said something that burdened my heart for both him and so many of us in this world. He said, “I’ve spent my whole life planning for the future and now the future is here and I wish I would’ve spent more time living in the present.”
Tom, or Tommy, as I like to call him, has always been a wise guy. Not like Three Stooges wise, but wise with his financial decisions. Because of that, he and my mom are about to embark on some fun adventures where they’ll be spending my entire inheritance trying to get my mom to try foods she can’t pronounce. But in the process of preparing, he forgot to spend some of his life living.
My aunt was managing a sidewalk sale and asked if I would go pick up some food for a few of my family members. They ordered some burgers from the local bar uptown.
My little cousin had spent most of the morning tagging along since she wanted to meet the new kitty, so after I put her to work helping me vacuum at the carwash, we headed uptown to pick up the order.
Minus a few people eating lunch and playing pool, the place was pretty empty. We sat on the stools and waited for our order to finish. I made conversation about the weather and the Cooking Channel with the bartender as the burgers sizzled on the grill in the background.
As I looked around at the empty bar, I couldn’t help but think about all that had happened the night before. Just hours earlier, the place was packed. Music blared in the background. Smoke filled the air. Pool cues were chalked up. Every bar stool and table was full.