Based On a True Story

 I was watching Indian Jones, who if you didn't know, is deathly afraid of snakes. In The Last Crusade, a young "Indy" is running from the bad guys on a circus train. For some reason...which is still unknown to this day of why they would have a good section of a box car filled with snakes, Indy falls into them. The fear is real. "Imagine you are bitten by a snake and instead of saving yourself by having the poison removed you chase after the snake to find out why they bit you and to reason with it that you didn't deserve to be bit."  It's a lethal combination to have a hard hitting quote, analogy, Indiana Jones playing in the background, and be past midnight for Mark's blog.  I thought about this quite a bit. I have spent a lot of time working on myself. I have found joy and peace in small hobbies like crafting. I have throughly enjoyed making cards on a Cricut, vinyl stickers, t-shirts, diamond art, sketching, and writing. Some of these hobbies I ha

 As I continue a constant journey of self-reflection and improvement I sat down to write this post. As many of you know the past few years have been extremely difficult for my family. I say that because the events have truly had an effect on every single person in the family. For some outsiders, I have heard people say, “you guys seemed so happy…” or “you’re the perfect family.” No one is without fault. Looking back, I would have handled so many of the situations differently knowing what I know now, knowing the outcome of my own actions, and knowing the hurt and pain everything would bring. Hindsight is always 20/20. Well I don’t think that is always true. Hindsight with GLASSES is always true. The glasses, metaphorically, represent our lens/perspective as we have grown and gained new skills from the experience. It’s all part of self-reflection. After everything came to be, I thought I had hit rock bottom. I felt like the rug had been pulled from under me. It was a very dark and lonely

*heavy sigh... here we go again... Over the past 18 months, it seems that the ADHD hyper fixation on hobbies has been in full force. I have learned to make balloon animals, pick locks, diamond art, semi-pro coloring, building mechanical keyboards, sewing, 3D printing, handmade popup cards, iron on vinyl t-shirts, vinyl stickers, etc. It makes perfect sense to come full circle and get back to blogging. Life has a knack for tossing lemons at us which leaves me tempted to just pucker up instead of embracing a sweet lemonade. The cynic in me screams, "hey...what about the water, juicer, and sugar? Do you expect me to use my hand to stir it?" I even go as far as wondering why someone would just give me free lemons...what strings are attached? So I digress... already. However, I recently heard a quote that I really like and it goes, " you can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy ." These words smacked me across the face. As some know,

Some fun parks around the area  It has been some time since I last published anything on my blog. I think it comes down to different priorities. I have always been one to journal as a way to process the things happening around me. I definitely was better at doing it on a regular basis earlier this year. To catch everyone, my loyal 6 readers, up on the past 4 years of life...have a family of 3 children, left the classroom to become an assistant principal, became a principal, moved from hobby to hobby and skipped around on different projects.  I was interviewing someone for a teaching position today. This was an individual I had already worked with and knew extensively. This interviewee had already been asked all the questions we use...and reuse. So being the impulsive person that I am, I prefaced my final question with..."I just want to try something out...I want to ask you a question and I don't know how it will even go, but do you know who Elon Musk is?" She responded wi

In the wake of the tragic events in Las Vegas, I decided to sit down and write out my beliefs and thoughts on guns and the laws that surround them. If you know anything about me, you know that I enjoy guns and the gun culture. As an adult, competitive shooting, recreational shooting, collecting guns, and reloading have become a hobby. Strange enough, I grew up in a house that only had one functional firearm. It was a Winchester 1906 pump action .22LR rifle that belonged to my father's father. It has since been handed down to me and one day I will pass it on to my son. I couldn't tell you why I was so fascinated with the military or firearms in general as a child growing up. Later in life, my mom told me that my parents had decided to not purchase toy guns for me. But they found that I would make them out of empty toilet paper rolls, Legos, sticks, or just with whatever I could get my hands on. I remember playing "Army War" on the playground with my friends. As I gre

Being a step parent is a lot like that... If you're a step parent and you want a good laugh at yourself...go watch Daddy's Home. Being a parent is hard work. No one really can explain how difficult it is to be a parent. I always heard people say, "oh just wait until you're a parent," or "you don't understand until you have kids..." Cliche I thought...but I had no idea. Not to toot on my own horn, but I feel like I'm a decent step parent. Sure I have my flaws, as my kids will tell you. And yes, I do call them my kids. To swing on this tangent, I call them my kids for a reason. I met Suzie when Kayden was only 2 and Rose was a mere month old. I have been in their life for the vast majority of it. I have been there when they were sick, fought through homework, patched up skinned knees, listened to fits, you get the idea right? I watched Rose take her first steps, taught Kayden to ride a bike, and seen so much joy in those two kids as they