I must admit it’s VERY weird not being at work. But, I’m starting to really grab hold of this and am starting to really understand the WHY behind the sabbatical. Primarily, each day my mind is consumed with thoughts of work such as, pre-call prep for appointments, marketing, lead generation, prospecting, putting out fires, etc…you all know the drill. These thoughts subside somewhat at night with family when we gather to eat but then creep back in prior to shutting it down for the night. Now that I’m letting go of that, all kinds of new thoughts are coming in. Primarily guided by the devotional and my reflection time. I’m really starting to see there is so much more I can become if I just commit to it. What a great opportunity I have and I’m going to make the most of it.
The first couple of days it has been difficult to not think about clients, so I immersed myself in reading and activities. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a day by day account of what I’ve been doing but since it’s only been 3 days…
Day 1: I spent the entire day with my son Ben. He is 5 years old and is in preschool part time. Ordinarily on Monday he has school but not this time. As Ben put it “Mom, today is Me and Dad time!”. So, after my morning exercise and coffee, Ben and I went to the range to hit some golf balls and do some chipping and putting. All that work made us hungry so…off to McDonalds. From there, we went to Dick’s to shop for new batting gloves and a bat for Ben as he is starting baseball soon. He’s only five, but will be in minor C which is the next step up from T-ball. He hits the ball better if it is pitched to him than if it is on a tee (actually he’s VERY good at it). However, he needs to work on his catching, throwing and fielding (He has time…he’s only 5). Anyway, the day was awesome, and I can’t really recall having a whole day one on one with just Ben. Pretty special.
Day 2: The service component of my Sabbatical is something I’ve been thinking about and praying about probably since last year when we started preparing for the Sabbatical. Yes, I’m very passionate about funeral service…and also very protective of it. With Children’s Grief Connection in Minnesota, I’ve learned over the years how amazing funeral directors really are. Of course coming from manufacturing and engineering, I was an outsider like most and was skeptical about the profession. To make a long story short (very difficult for me to do) I have never met anyone as passionate and caring about people as are funeral directors. And, when our industry receives publicity, it is generally negative…wrong body at a viewing, cremated the body and shouldn’t have, she didn’t look right, flowers were terrible, etc…the list goes on and on. So, I’ll be working hard to educate and inform some of our local media outlets in the Minneapolis area on CGC and lift up our funeral director volunteers. My ultimate goal is for someone to pick up the story, but If I can meet with as many as I can and educate them on our great organization, perhaps it will lead to something in the future. Ultimately, story or not…I’m going to spread the good word.
So, this morning, I stopped in to talk with Bill Sherck from Due North Outdoors. No commitment yet, but Bill is asking questions and considering how we could spin an outdoor element into doing a show about our CGC camp. Also, I have reached out to a couple others at Kare 11 and WCCO in Minneapolis through networking connections. We’ll see how that goes. When I secure an appointment, I’m hoping to connect with Coral and have her joint me.
Today: Thanks to my devotional, I walked out my door and had conversations with neighbors that I rarely ever talk to. We live in a neighborhood of empty nesters and my perception is that we really don’t have much in common. Nothing could be further from the truth…our lawns all look horrible from the winter, this spring has been way too cold, taxes are too high…yep, plenty in common. Also, in the past I’ve somewhat been resentful of the fact that if we stay in this neighborhood long enough, my neighbors are going to need our help with more things…what? I don’t have time to help myself…let alone…wait, stop…what am I thinking? This is a great opportunity to help people! The good Lord has put this right in my lap and I’ve been blind. Blind no more…this is going to be an awesome next several weeks. I’m hopeful to reach out and start planting seeds that I’m here to help and just hope and pray that my neighbors will welcome an extra hand. More to come on this topic…
What’s next? Off to Florida tomorrow. Seeing Miki’s Aunt and going to see my God Parents (Aunt and Uncle). My Aunt Donna has been battling cancer for the past year and it’s been a struggle. I haven’t seen her or my uncle for over 5 years…I’m super excited to see them. They send me a birthday card every year and haven’t missed one in 47 years. I’m very grateful. We’ll be in the Nakomis area for 3 days, then at the Villages north of Orlando and then off to Disney with Ben and Will for a couple of days. Ben was at Disney when he was a baby, but doesn’t remember. With Will 9 and Ben 5 years, they are at pretty good ages.
God Bless!
Scott