It’s impossible to do an event called “Glory Days” and take a trip down high school memory lane. The first thought I had, while preparing my story for the event, was that, whoever coined the term, “these are the best four years of your life,” was wrong.

The only hiccup was the ball-of-energy kid, who challenged authority and got bored within five seconds. My boss told me this kid had been kicked out of a number of other daycare programs and they were worried he might not make it through the summer with us.

“John, Why do you want to marry Anne?”

“I’ve always wanted to live in a musical.”

It was the first talk in a while where I learned more from the audience than they learned from me. I was presenting at the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids, my first time speaking with this religious population.

Spring is here which means I have only one thing on my mind -- the next backpacking trip. I will, at some point over the next three to four months, plan a trip to hike in some remote part of the country.

The first yes came years ago, when I looked in the mirror and told myself, “Yes, you can do this.”  Fourteen years ago, after a putting to bed my scariest inner demons, I realized that getting others to say yes would be my life’s work.

“What are we going to do tonight, Brain?”

“Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.”

It has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with how he conducts himself.