My Children: A Mother couldn't be Prouder!!!

I know every mother probably thinks this (even if she doesn't say it out loud); "My kids are the BEST kids in the world".  Well, objectively speaking, mine really are!  As objective as I can be... lol ("laugh out loud" for those not familiar with the jargon).  I was pleasantly reminded of how blessed we are after the recent Father's Day photo shoot.  The kids wanted to do something really special this year. If you don't know Charlie, I have to tell you, he is difficult to buy for (if he needs it- he has already bought it; if he doesn't- he'll take it back) and even harder to surprise! 

Even though picture taking is not high on their list of enjoyable experiences the kids were great sports (well almost- RC wasn't very happy as you can see in some of the video pictures).  And to make matters worse, to keep it a surprise, they had to give up Charlie's softball game (which they love to do every Friday evening).

These are more than just great pictures of our good looking teens... even Chris, our photographer, (TheStoryPhotography.com) mentioned what really great kids they are and how easy they are to work with... the pictures reflect who they really are.

Phillip, Olivia & RC in full Black Belt Gi

The karate pictures bring back memories of the many years of training (me dragging them ... and then, them dragging me); while juggling carpooling, homework, football, baseball, wrestling, swimming... all through hot summer days and winter snowstorms. The boys testing for their black belt together; running their 2 mile run in record time, sitting in "shiqudatchi " for hours with their instructors on their shoulders and Olivia testing a year later at 12 with her oldest brother running right beside her... pushing her forward.

The wonders of DNA: the same genes, same parents, same house... very different kids...

RC, 17

RC is a our quiet teddy bear... with a gentle heart bigger than his stature.  One story about RC, in particular, stands out for me.  A few years ago we were visiting the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall at the fairgrounds. As usual, there were long lines, crowds of people and one nervous mother (me) trying to keep a headcount with one eye on the little heads and the other on the wall.  As I turned to do my "every 10 second" headcount, I suddenly realized that I could no longer see RC... he had lagged behind.  I grabbed the other kids, back tracked through the crowd and was ready to give the "you stay with me no matter what" lecture. I quickly noticed that he had his arms full of stuff that was not his.  He had stayed back to help out a dad so he could lift his young daughter up on his shoulders to do a pencil trace of a name of someone that they had loved and lost. No one has to ask RC to do things ... he just sees where people need help and he gives it.

Phillip, 16

Phillip is our social magpie, comic relief and swamp land salesman... There is constant laughter, very long stories and up to minute product reviews in our home. And a few "I like Turtles"... don't ask!  I remember one time when he was very little he told me that I should buy cascade because it was the BEST, and it is the best because they said so... I thanked him but explained that we were not buying it, because we didn't own a dishwasher.  He was very upset because it was the best and we had to have the best to make things easier for me. Phillip brings the smiles and laughter to our home in his own unique and creative ways. We have since bought a dishwasher and yes, we do use cascade! 

Olivia, 13

Olivia is beautiful, talented, athletic, smart ("high honor roll smart") and VERY organized ... we use to call it "bossy" but she has blossomed into an amazing leader. Given any task she breaks it down into steps, delegates and pulls everything off without a hitch.  She has become my linchpin ... not being able to do what I use to do; since the onset of my fibromyalgia. When Olivia was 2 she only had about 5 words in her vocabulary. As parents we were of course very concerned.  We took her through testing, hired a speech therapist and within 6 months she had over a 1,000 words (using them hourly of course). Her therapist, Lisa, said "she was just waiting patiently to be able to say them perfectly, before she wasted any breathe saying them". 

Charlie and I are truly blessed; it is so nice to be reminded between the: "When are you going to clean your room?" "Who loaded dirty dishes on top of the clean dishes in the dishwasher?" and the all too frequent  ".. you need how much money, and by when? "

"No More Strangers": Seth's Blog (Guest)

I have been saying for years; in all my different roles ... it is all about the quality & effort put into the relationships you have... and by doing that, you can't help but to attract people you have not yet met personally ... but at that point, they are not really strangers, are they? .... they are friends of friends... of friends...

As In Seth's blog today ... 

The circles (no more strangers)
It's so tempting to seek out more strangers.  More strangers to pitch your business, your candidate, your non-profit, your blog... More strangers means more upside and not so much downside. It means growth.

The problem is that strangers are difficult to convert. And the other problem is that they're expensive to reach. And the hardest problem is that we're running out of strangers.

Consider this hierarchy: Strangers, Friends, Listeners, Customers, Sneezers, Fans and True Fans. One true fan is worth perhaps 10,000 times as much as a stranger. And yet if you're in search of strangers, odds are you're going to mistreat a true fan in order to seduce yet another stranger who probably won't reward you much.

Let's say a marketer has $10,000 to spend. Is it better to acquire new customers at $2,000 each (advertising is expensive) or spend $10 a customer to absolutely delight and overwhelm 1,000 true fans? Or consider a non-profit looking to generate more donations. Is it better to embrace the core donor base and work with them to host small parties with their friends to spread the word, or would hiring a PR firm to get a bunch of articles placed pay off more efficiently?  ...