Always Waiting

June 26, 2015 by Scott Todnem

Time is an odd thing conceptually for me. Conventional wisdom would tell you that we should live in the present but we must constantly evaluate our past to process our present to secure our future. Time in general has a different context for everyone, from physicist to philosophers and spiritual advisers.

There is one constant truth no matter what your belief is on the subject. Time is finite for a living being and we all strive to do something important with it that makes us feel valuable.

A Lesson in Graceful Confrontation

March 23, 2015 by Scott Todnem

"You're more of a freight train than an Indy car," my husband once mused. He has watched me do lots of things with intense determination and direct forward motion. I take a very head on, full out approach to pretty much anything I do in my life. I also approach issues with very little filter and try to be as honest and upfront as possible.

Well, in most situations.

Hearing the Right Noise

March 05, 2015 by Scott Todnem

I come into contact with hundreds of people a day. Some are familiar faces but mostly they’re not. Some are willing to share literally a months worth of personal news with you, most of which I’d rather not know. And still others are just polite to you; they say please and thank you and walk out the door.

If I had to choose one kind of person I prefer, I’d actually say it's those who share their life story with me, because it is so completely opposite of how I am. It might take a year of knowing me before you get really personal information out of me. But these people are willing to share things with you, willing to be vulnerable within their first interaction with you.

They don’t care what you’ll think, they don’t worry how you’ll react, they just speak.

Listening by Ear

March 03, 2015 by Scott Todnem

Yesterday morning my daughter's grandfather died from a very short and rapid fight with cancer. After school, we sat her down, and explained what happened. It's never fun as a parent to tell your child something that you know will hurt her, and unfortunately that's had to happen far too much for her in her short lifetime. When I hear her laugh, it reassures me that she isn't forgetting how to be a kid. After several bouts of crying, I did hear her silly little laugh again, and it made my heavy heart happy.

Resting in bed with her last night she turned to me and she said, "Don't you think it's funny how people say memories of people are supposed to make you happy, but people aren't always happy when the people are actually here?"