Summer Jobs

Yesterday we learned that one of our nephews received an offer for a fulltime internship this summer and his parents are ecstatic.  My first summer job was mowing lawns.  I can still picture at my last turn finding my dad waiting with a question, “Looks pretty good Billy, how does it feel?”  We walked home and didn’t talk about the money, but about pride and doing my best.  That lawn grew into 21 more lawns that summer.  By my senior year of high school I had other jobs and mowed fewer lawns, but was still mowing Coach Charley Mac’s (head coach LSU football) lawn.  When my dad was bankrupt Charley Mac offered me the first full scholarship given at LSU to a football manager.  It paid for my undergraduate degree and it all started with “how does it feel”.   

The Gazebo  

I remember the first time I sat in the Gazebo (3^rd floor Main Building) and immediately felt the warmth from the sun wrap around my soul and time stood still.  Lost in the moment my breath became deeper and brought an energizing calm that transcended time.  The Gazebo has become one of my favorite places at MD Anderson and I share this space with many I coach.  Next week is Cancer Survivorship week and I will teach classes on attitude, happiness, and joy to patients, family, and visitors in the Gazebo from noon to 1pm every day.   If you have time, wander by and let the Gazebo and my words re-energize your soul.  Can’t make it?  Each day next week my Yammer will include the handouts. 

Memorial Day Prayer

 

When I walked in she was sitting down with a friend knelling by the side of the chair holding her hand.  She was so young and had been in country less than 6-weeks.  He was just 20 and the first soldier to die under my command, just a tall skinny kid.  I don’t remember the words, just the tears, and the garden and blue-green warbler sunning himself in a young red oak.  Yesterday, I bought a small solar light shaped like a bird and placed it in our garden with a prayer for a soldier that had died in my arms 40 years ago, and his young widow who had lost the love of her life. 

What's Your Name

I was named after the movie actor William Boyd who played Hopalong Cassidy. A cowboy hero like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry in the 30’s and 40’s who was known for his goodness and fighting for the things he believed. In my own way I’ve lived up to the name. When my son was born, I remember my dad’s concerned questioning tone, “What did you name him?”, after I told him we’d named our first son Kaleb Micah. But after reminding him of the men named Caleb and Micah in the Bible I could feel his smile through the phone. What’s the story behind your name?