It’s an act we do often: give another a gift. Sometimes it’s a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary.  Or sometimes it's a tradition, such as Christmas, and other times we hand out gifts at random. Any time we go through the act of picking out the gift we are giving away, we have hope that the gift will land on the recipient and relay our love, and care for the individual.

The first ever Sunday Night With John: Live, went off without a hitch yesterday.  Putting on my own event caused me to worry that I would be speaking in front of just my wife. I could have easily accomplished that feat in our living room without taking weeks to design and send out invites, prep food and drinks, and a book venue.

More recently, I received a facebook message from a former coworker about a young man I worked with years ago.

After a week of relaxation on Tybee Island and Savannah, Georgia, I realized the Southern pace of life is the pace for me. 

I recently saw on Facebook that a former employee of mine started her own adventure in photography with some friends. A smile came across my face as she helped a number of kids dive into the world of expression of emotions through art.

THEY ARE CALLED THE BADLANDS.

This isn’t the first time an idea of mine was put into motion by people who believe in me and what I was attempting to accomplish. Ten years ago three people came together in a perfect storm to allow John Paul Derryberry to hatch, and laid the foundation of my message that years later morphed into Share Emotions, Emotions Matter.

The picture above is a little John Paul Derryberry attending his first ever day of school at Colebrook Elementary in the tiny town of Colebrook, Ohio.