I asked what had happened. Where did it all go wrong? Why did you write to me? He answered the first two questions with half answers and half truths. He could sense my disappointment and held back the truth to spare me.

Somewhere, out there in the world, there is a person who is in need of your voice, your take on the world, your artistic interpretation, or your strung-together-words that imagine a better future or a path through a difficult time.

I had a college roommate who famously said, “Anything can happen once but two times means you are onto something.”

And, if we lack principles, we all are susceptible to losing our way.  Principles become our guiding light through the emotional minefield we navigate every day.

It’s well known by now, the story of my mother’s famous cheer. How it embarrassed us as we traversed the world of youth sports, high school sports, and, for my brother and I, college sports!  My mom would open her mouth and give a ear-shattering "woo" chant over and over again.

What am I doing in Fargo, North Dakota, standing in the Fargo Dome (Home of the North Dakota State Bison)? Well, I’m staring at the starting line of my second marathon, wondering whether I will have I what it takes to finish.

After two days of canoeing past Cedar Island, the Mar-A-Largo of Calvin Coolidge’s presidency, and taking on a very small rapids, we had had our fill of canoeing.