It goes on.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. - Robert Frost

Thirteen years ago this morning, my father died. I had just turned seventeen; my sister was fifteen. And he was only fifty.

I think anyone who has experienced the loss of a parent at an early age can agree: even if you were normal before, whether you had a happy childhood or not, whether this parent was a daily influence or someone there only occasionally, you no longer are or will ever be normal.

Childhood grief aside, it's strange to be on that side of the event. No one really knows what to say. And you don't know how to respond. Even now, when I attend funerals, I feel that awkwardness because there really isn't anything that can be said or done that will remedy the situation. Things just are what they are now.

I can feel for anyone who has lost someone special in their life. I've been there. In those moments, when everything seems to be moving so fast, and you're quietly trying to keep up, and the grief drags you down like a boulder strapped to your feet, you are in a space by yourself. Even when that grief is shared with another person. Even if that grief is shared with thousands or millions.

And then, something funny happens. Time happens.

That boulder loses its weight over time. You catch up with the rest of the world. And yes, you miss the one you've lost. But there is an appreciation for the moment you have right now, and the moment you once had, and the moment that will be. Everything is in a different light when the shades of that seemingly insurmountable grief begins to wane.

In honor of the time that has passed, I'd like to mark the things that Dad missed, but didn't really.

• I graduated high school.
• Princess Diana died.
• I went to college - got my AA (I may eventually finish that BA - I'm sure Dad's a little upset about that.)
• Shannon graduated high school.
• The world human population passed the six billion mark.
• Shannon moved to MN.
• 9/11 happened.
• My grandma, Dad's mom died.
• Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings hit the theaters.
• Shannon married Josh. (Grandpa walked her down the aisle.)
• Grandpa died.
• The tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
  
• Pope John Paul II died and was succeeded by Benedict XVI.
• Hurricane Katrina.
  
• I started a business.
• Shannon had a baby (that came out looking just like her grandpa).
  
• Life kept moving on.

That grief will never be a distant memory. It will always live right here, in my heart. It will only grow a little more comfortable, maybe even a little comforting. It means that I loved him very much. And I have faith that we will meet again.

Dad, we miss you.

No napping here.

There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap." - Carrie Fisher

Yesterday, I commented on Roger Federer, and asked what it is that drives apart the champions of the world and the rest of humanity.

The determination that I saw yesterday, and that I continue to see in the rest of the "successful" bunch, goes hand in hand with constant action, constant improvement, constant reinvention.

I think I've always wondered, is there a point at which people truly retire? Do people just stop once they've reached what they designate as "success"?

The answer is an emphatic "no".

Those who become legends, much like Michael Jackson, whose memorial touched me today, never stop searching, never stop working, never stop dreaming for bigger or better. They know that even if things are great at the moment, they can always get better, forgetting the possibility of failure as they do so.

What if we all forget about the destination, instead looking only at the journey, and decide that was what we really wanted after all?

When talent, genius, and education are not enough.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than successful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipresent. - Calvin Coolidge

After witnessing the Wimbledon win of Roger Federer yesterday, I found myself questioning what it is that separates the champions from the rest. Looking beyond the world-wide accolades of people who win major tournaments, what is it that makes people the champions of their own lives? How can I become someone who strives to be the best, even if it is only the best "me"?

No amount of planning and preparation, no amount of learning and intelligence has the ability to replace what essentially is that determination that pushes people over that threshold separating failure from success.

Aspiring to greatness is something that never ends, once making the decision to follow that path.

There have been countless numbers of people who have desired the rewards of the "winners", but few as determined, as resolved, who never falter in this will. These champions never leave their determination behind, through set-backs and voices of what "cannot be".

How willing are you to be like that?

Happy Fourth of July!

I thought it best to let the immortal words of those who have come before me (and I humbly bow to them and their great wisdom) to say the things I would say. Enjoy!

Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace-but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! - Patrick Henry

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! - Thomas Jefferson

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. - John Dickinson

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. - Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, 1863

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. - Adlai Stevenson

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing to fear but...

Things will happen in your life that you can't stop. But that's no reason to shut out the world. - Walter Sparrow (as Crazy Pete) in the film Now and Then (1995)

I know what it's like to fear the things that might happen. It prevents people from doing the things they love, from having the life they really want to live. Fear can be paralytic and irrational. It can tie us down and keep us from truly living.

But just because the worst might happen, doesn't mean that it will. You hear stories of people who live in the harshest of political climates who defy what "might be" because life does go on.

If the bad happens, let it happen. Not everything can be prevented. So hold your head high, and take life with every stride because by trying to shut out all the bad, you will end up missing out on all the good.

"Ah, what then?"

What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven
and there plucked an strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?
Ah, what then?
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Every hint of genius started off as a thought, a silent window into the vast expanse of what could be.

I greatly dislike when people decide that what they really want for their lives has to live only in their dreams, or worse, is relegated to the idea of "someday", where it remains for all eternity. Someday, this intangible time, where unicorns rule the Earth, and war is but a memory.

Wherever these incredible ideas come from, whenever your dream life exists is up to you. You are the definer of these things.

What if you were the arbiter of your own destiny? Ah, what then?

One characteristic to get you through life...

If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor. - Jennifer Jones

I'm sorry to say this, but I can't live without humor. What's the point? It would be like dragging myself through each and every day. No laughter? How would one keep from pitching him or herself off a steep cliff?

Some people live for the funny. Some people have made rather lucrative careers out of the funny. It surrounds us, through unexpected comments and ill-timed steps. It follows us into the bathroom and, for some, it's the little person they gave birth to. It keeps us sane and helps us to overcome our greatest grief. What does one do without a good sense of humor?

Granted, I take myself too seriously from time to time. There are moments when I am caught up in the things that are important to me. Thankfully, I have been blessed with an abundance of people who keep me laughing, lending a perspective of the world that is pragmatic and thoughtful.

A sense of humor leads to lightness, a life full of happiness. Laughing should be an item on everyone's agenda each day.

Have you laughed today?