Life is good

You'd think that, as a photographer, I'd have my camera at the ready always. Problem is, I'm a daddy before a photographer, which means my priority is usually the logistics of transporting my family here and yonder on Sunday mornings.…

Crockett's death: What do YOU think?

I admit it. I’m “eat up” with David Crockett. Since researching the five or so years that Crockett lived in the Belvidere area of Franklin County, Tenn., for a July, 2011, Cooperator story, I have become fascinated…

Add inputs to pump up creativity

In a presentation I put together a couple of years ago entitled "9 to 5 Creativity," I compiled a top 10 list of practices that are "sure-fire" ways to make you — yes, YOU — more creative. What?!  Creative?!  But…

Don't fall victim to "It's not my time"

(Note: I wrote this two years ago, but I feel the sentiment is more important than ever.  Carpe diem!) Our 10-year-old daughter, Ava, learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this weekend. Wow, you might be thinking.  She's…

The Whip-poor-will Story

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The year was 1981, and I was 15 years old.  My dad and I had spent the day working on our Christmas tree farm at the base of Booger Mountain (in Taylorsville, N.C.) with two other hired hands — Randy and Jeff — who were both around…

A walk in God's house

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How long has it been since you took a simple walk? I think there is more benefit in the act of putting one foot in front of the other than we may realize.  This isn't about physical fitness.  It's about mental and spiritual…

In memory of my two favorite Andys

  We didn't know them personally.  We only knew the faces and the voices.  They didn't know that we existed at all. So why is it so dad-gummed sad?It's been a rough few months for me.  As of last night, I've lost my two favorite…

Top 11 Reasons to Deadlift in Cross-training

Let’s be honest.  To much of the athletic world, deadlifts are the Rodney Dangerfield of bar movements. They are unglamorous.  They aren’t particularly dramatic to the untrained eye.  They seem rather brutish and utilitarian. Perhaps…

Need inspiration? Look no further than Sledge and Zamperini.

E.B. Sledge We all need our sources of human inspiration.  This year, I have been lucky enough to find two:  E.B. Sledge and Louis Zamperini. Sledge, who died in 2001, wrote the classic Marine Corps memoir, "With the…

"Mad Max" meets "Chariots of Fire"

Holly and I after last year's Warrior Dash. This morning (Sept. 22) at 11:30, Holly and I will, for the second consecutive year, tackle a Warrior Dash "mud run," this one in Manchester, Tenn.  The Dash is a 5K trail run that…