“He lost a lot of weight, got frostbite, hurt his shoulder and thigh.  But he is smiling.” 

– Bob Stevens

Running Toward Trouble

“There had been one man. One off-duty SAS operator who had been the first responder to the scene, and then for a long time, the only responder. It was him showing up that had driven the terrorists to cease their systematic executions and retreat to their fallback positions. This lone man had literally pressed pause on the murders of innocent civilians with his willingness to intervene.” – From Terrorist Attack Girl: How I Survived Terrorism and Reconstructed My Shattered Mind, by Meyli Chapin.

I had just finished reading this statement from Meyli Chapin’s book when Bob Stevens told me that he and Amy, his wife, were on their way to Georgia. They were on their way to attend their son Parker’s graduation from US Army Ranger School.

“Hopefully he’ll graduate,” Bob said in a nervous, yet excited voice.

“I’m not worried about him graduating at all,” I confidently responded.

Bob and Amy had been proudly telling me of Parker’s graduation from West Point about one year earlier, so I knew the purpose, character and strength that is his.

“I have been training for this my whole life,” - Christian Craighead, from “Terrorist Attack Girl.”

Parker has been training to become an Army Ranger his whole life. I knew it, because Parker knew it.

“Please send me a photo of Parker at his graduation from Ranger School,” I asked Bob. “I’d like to frame it and put it on my desk, right next to my photo of Marine Corps India Company. These photos will remind me daily of those who allow me to live the amazing life I enjoy, because of them.

The day before yesterday I received the first Parker photo from Bob with a note saying, “He lost a lot of weight, got frostbite, hurt his shoulder and thigh.  But he is smiling.”

I was smiling too, when on the next day, I received Parker’s graduation photo, the “Classic” picture taken after graduation, from Bob. 

I’m going to print and frame both Parker photos.

These photos will share my desk and will be a constant reminder to me that: He is, and others like him, the dividing line between good and evil. He is, and they are, heroes!

If you’d like to send Parker a message of gratitude, in preparation for Memorial Day, please email it to me at Lynn@LynnButterfield.com or text it to me at 801-550-6334. I’ll pass it on to Parker and his parents. Or, perhaps there is someone else you’d like to message in gratitude. If so, don’t let another day pass without doing so.

We often talk about how opportunity meets preparation.  Now’s that time. Prepare to thank our heroes and accept your opportunity.

Our heroes have! They run toward trouble for us.

___________________________________________

I’ve helped thousands of people, as a real estate & lifestyle expert, to discover where and how they want to live and work; to achieve Realesation. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, Both Sides of the Fence, About the Dish, Monday’s Warm Cocoa and HomeByDesign Magazine to stir your heart and mind:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6csyUhByBzo_Z50rJcY9w0uAonVelgE/view?usp=sharing

“All we can really leave are memories, so it’s important that we create them.” 

– John C. Adams II

PopKnot

John Adams says he “has wood in my veins.”

He’s a great-grandson of lumber millers and forestry managers. And, grew up watching his grandfathers working in the saw mill, amongst the trees standing in the hills of the Ozarks.

“I learned a lot, but most importantly, a hard day’s work done right was priceless,” John says to me while sitting at our handmade black walnut, round table.

John watched the men in his memory-held, mountain community “fell” trees, hook them up to the horses with chains and pull them into the lumber yard to be milled. In those days, the saws were powered by belts and pulleys. And, he gets a far-off look in his eyes as he recalls how those huge saws churned up sawdust all around them as they seemingly worked endless days. I could see his nostrils flair as he vividly recalled the smell of that freshly cut wood drifted into his nose on a country breeze.

“My grandfathers were not just lumberjacks, but real hillbilly people. They didn’t have electricity and yet they were seemingly able to provide everything they needed on the farm; from tobacco to cain sorghum molasses. They had milk cows, chickens, hogs, and mules around their hilly homesteads and stored their harvests in root cellars and where they also cured hams to fend off winter’s hunger driving cold. It was a full-family working-way-of-life,” John fondly remembers.

His eyes watched the people in his life build items from wood to sell or use. It all clearly left a lasting impression on him. An imprint that lives in the past, present and future.

“I learned a lot from those people,” He teaches. “I honor them by building items in my shop. As a disabled veteran, it’s something vital I can still do. We have 16 grandchildren who are all watching and learning, just as I did.”

He knew they were watching because they began coming to him, asking how to do wood working projects. The grandchildren who were wood-handy began to work with him to create products to sell to their friends and family. Those that didn’t want woodwork created a business plan and website. That’s how Popknot Wood was born.

John loves binding the generations of his family together through wood-born creations and restorations. And, he’s moved when they’re able to preserve wood-held-memories for their clients as well. 

“People bring legacy tables, chairs and other cherished pieces to us and we restore them. That’s what we really love to do.”

He is also cognizant of another tangible memory not far from where we were talking.

“Our family donated a plot of land on Walnut Street for a church years ago. Each member of our family created a stained-glass window and installed in that church to stay tied to that family land,” a watery eyes John imparted before continuing. “All we can really leave are memories, so it’s important that we create them.”

I’ve helped thousands of people, as a real estate & lifestyle expert, to discover where and how they want to live and work, to achieve Realesation. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, to stir your heart and mind:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6csyUhByBzo_Z50rJcY9w0uAonVelgE/view?usp=sharing

 

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it yourself.” – Albert Einstein

Six

 “I don’t think I was ever planning to have children,” Andrew said. “But now that I have one child I can’t ever imagine not having her.”

The term Felix culpa immediately came to mind as Andrew spoke about the good that has come into his life as a result the unexpected. Felix culpa is a Latin phrase that comes from the words felix, meaning ‘happy,’ ‘lucky,’ or ‘blessed,’ and culpa, meaning ‘fault’ or ‘fall.’  It’s a concept suggesting that something unexpected or unplanned can bring about greater good.

We all are the receivers of the unexpected and each instance offers an opportunity of using the “Principle of Six,” a concept initiated as a result of something Albert Einstein said long ago, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it yourself.” So, next time you see a child, of about six years of age, let their likeness entice you toward exploration of the unexpected.

First. At the moment of your emotional reaction to the unexpected, ask yourself, “Where is this emotion coming from?” Dave Zitting is the designer of this all important first question. He explains the question’s power by teaching of the important connection that emotion plays in every aspect of living and its relationship to often-ignored situational understanding.

Second, A six-year-old is often frustrated at their lack of situational understanding. As a result, their knee-jerk emotional reaction governs their behavior. You and I have all seen emotional outbursts displayed by exasperated children. We’ve also seen that such reactions are always unproductive. Dave’s question, when asked internally, reveals another paths forward.

Third. Be comfortable with not understanding the moment. It is impossible to know everything that can come from an unexpected occurrence. One of my favorite allegories is about a farmer who always said, “we’ll see,” when his friends and neighbors tried to label every unexpected event, that came to him, as good or bad luck. Be like the farmer who is open to “we’ll see.”

Fourth, seek long term understanding. My friend Andrew is just like the rest of us. He had no notion of the gift his daughter would be before she arrived in his life. You and I have no idea what greater good will come from life’s unanticipated occurrences. And, just like Andrew, we’ll only discover them over time.

Fifth. Look for luck. After one of our common friends once described Kristin Murdock as the “luckiest person she’s ever met,” Kristin taught me that if I simply looked for luck, it will come to me. She’s right!

Sixth. Accept the luck and gifts received as a result of your providential falls and one day, when you and I finally understand the “Principle of six,” we’ll be able to explain it to a six-year-old.

I’ve helped thousands of people, as a real estate & lifestyle expert, to discover where and how they want to live and work, to achieve Realesation. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, to stir your heart and mind:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6csyUhByBzo_Z50rJcY9w0uAonVelgE/view?usp=sharing

Pivotal Moment

“I grew up in a small town. I went to school there. Then one day a new family moved into our neighborhood. They had a daughter about the same age as I was and they had a younger daughter as well,” Gan said, while speaking of an early pivotal moment as a teenager.

Everyone Gan knew up to this point had always lived in the same town and had gone to the same schools. Right up to his early years in high school.

“Our town had a particular culture. We viewed the world in the same way,” he continued.

They also viewed history through the same lens. It had never occurred to him that there may be a different point of view.

“We got to know our new neighbors fairly well. They were real nice people from a nearby state. I hadn’t considered the possibility of significant differences,” Gan explained, right before he described a perspicuous moment of ideation.

It was a shift earned through observation, a moment from the past he seemed to pull easily from his pocket, as if it were a favorite, comfortable wallet, filled with personal historical currency. His eyes drifted from the present, as if a vehicle of time travel, allowing him to relive what he thought was going to be a typical barbeque with neighbors they were still getting to know.

“The daughter, about my age and in high school, had gone to school in the state they recently left. The younger daughter had been in our local school for a couple of years,” Gan said as he aptly painted through voice.

He went on brushing in details of the scene that had occurred some forty years earlier. Saying that as the conversing group relaxed in his backyard, it soon became clear that the sisters had been taught wholly different perspectives of the area’s history.

“Theirs was such a stark, contrasting assessment of the same historical period, that I was want to simply sit and observe the unfolding moment. I wondered at the divide and how it had occurred within the same family,” Gan illustrated with auditory, pictorial strokes.

He stood in the present, while reposing on his childhood patio, with the scent of barbeque seemingly-still-vivid and wafting through his memory, as if present.

“The moment and its people changed me,” Gan said as he phased into the now. “I understood, for the first time, that others, even living underneath the same roof, could view current and historical events very differently. And, that an everyday experience, seemingly insignificant in its initiation, could become a pivotal, life changing moment.”

“I just sat back, observed and listened; saying wow!” – Gan Nunnally

I’ve helped thousands of people, as a real estate & lifestyle expert, to discover where and how they want to live and work, to achieve Realesation. That’s why I bring you American Dream TV, to stir your heart and mind:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6csyUhByBzo_Z50rJcY9w0uAonVelgE/view?usp=sharing

“They asked me where I was and told me to get going, to come and join them.” - Griffin Rosenbaum

Fueling Connection

Griffin asked to meet at Beach BBQ for a dinner meeting. I know what you’re thinking, “What a life! Dinner on the beach!” But, this little joint isn’t anywhere near a beach. We met there anyway and told me of his recent journey.

 “They asked me where I was and told me to get going, to come and join them,” he said, while speaking of his current experience with “Fuel Accelerator.”

Fuel is a 12-week business accelerator, by Startup Junkie, that selects and matches seed & growth-stage technology companies with vital, community mentors. It is an in-person program focusing on operational value training for young companies and the people who create them. Griffin and his company were selected to participate. It is an authentic opportunity to learn about powerful connection. 

Such opportunity often challenges its recipients in unanticipated ways.

“Right after the opening reception I got a message that caused me to rush back home,” as Griffin explained that he arrived home to hard personal news.

“I have to tell you, I was really feeling down and started to feel sorry for myself,” he continued by saying that the call from collogues at Fuel turned his emotions around almost instantly and he spent the few-hours drive back to the group, thinking about its effect on him.

“I’ve been amazed at how generous these people have been to me. They’ve given me a growing understanding of the power of connection and how it is allowing me to become the best version of myself,” Griffin expressed, just before he was kind enough to share more of what he’s recently learned.

He found that as soon as he focused on gratitude, after that pivotal call, his emotions became centered again and he was able to focus on his bright future once more. Now he spends specific time, every morning and night, reflecting on what he’s grateful for. He’s also begun other quotidian practices as well.

His second diurnal exercise is patterned after that same seminal call. He takes the time to reach out to others, just to check in with them. Sometimes it’s through a voice call, other times he sends a text or a message through LinkedIn.

“I just call to make sure others know I’m thinking of them and to see if I can do something to help them. I love that it makes both of us feel connected and important to each other.”

Griffin is also spending more time outside. He makes sure to take time to do something simple, like take a walk, so he can feel more connected to his surroundings. He’s found that doing so recharges his personal reservoir which supports growth of additional connections.

“It’s about connection for me now,” Griffin said, before he fueled our connection, by giving me a hug.

Be sure to watch the latest episode of my show on American Dream TV:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6csyUhByBzo_Z50rJcY9w0uAonVelgE/view?usp=sharing

"Everything important is uncertain." – Eliot Peper

Ice Cream Added

The sun was long up. The gym had been open for three hours already. People who are commonly working out at earlier times were long gone. In fact, there was no one there as I walked in. The machines were quiet, unused. It felt eerie and lonely; a feeling that was not to last.

One grandmother walked in. Soon followed by three friends, all dressed in colorful outfits, that would make a chameleon struggle to morph. This color was just part of the gym’s shifted vibe. Perhaps the most notable change was that quiet was immediately banished. 

Such sound was an assault to gym rules. Their chatter was just fine. The rule breaker was the music which was not imprisoned by earbuds. Yet, it was a delightful contrast to the earlier loneliness.  It soon became entertainment.

“My mother is still living alone in her own home,” one of the dancing, bending and talking women said.

And, her astonishing mother, ninety-three-years old, is still breaking rules. 

Not surprisingly, I laughingly thought, “her rule-breaking-daughter had grown from an acorn not far from the tree!”

“I went to visit my mother the other day to check on her,” She continued, after pausing between dance moves and puffing out the words.

As soon as this visiting, dutiful daughter joined her mother in the kitchen, she was delighted to see her mother drinking a healthy smoothie. It was something she had never witnesses before. This unexpected behavior caused the daughter to marvel, because of the ear-to-ear smile spanning her mom’s face; a seeming, invitation to taste.

“This is really good!”

It was so good; the daughter asked her mother what was in it. Mom then revealed her secret to a delicious smoothie.

“Ice cream added! It makes all the difference!”

The exercising ladies chortled about ice cream added. I have to admit that I chuckled quietly to myself, after all I didn’t want these grandmother-fellow-rule-breaking, gym-mates to know of my eavesdropping! I didn’t want the entertainment to end. I loved hearing about grandmother experimentation; that its independent of age and social standing.

It reminded me of what my friend, author and entrepreneur Eliot Peper said about taking risks:

"If you know something's going to work, it's not worth working on. It requires no courage. It requires no faith. It requires no skin in the game. Whether you're a spy or a teacher or a spouse or a painter or an abuela or an astronaut or a monk or a barista or a board-game designer, the bits that matter are the bits you make matter by putting yourself on the line for them. The unknown is the foundry where you forge your chips. Everything important is uncertain. Sitting with the discomfort of that uncertainty is the hard part, the wedge that can move the world."

And, sometimes ice cream needs to be added!

Watch my latest American Dream TV Segment

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fQmn4Fhlr7ftMqEjb64VFw1eCCK-YAZx/view?usp=drive_link

“I thought I was invisible to everyone.” - Daniel Madewell

Mending Invisibility

Daniel reacted as I extended my hand and twisted around & behind some other friends in an effort to shake his hand. Our little group of friends was beginning to scatter to the wind, like evening stardust flittering through a door toward home. We had spent the evening together, sharing food and socializing. Now, it was time to end our camaraderie and retire for the night.

“Good to see you,” I said as I shook Daniel’s hand, which seemingly acted as a lever to spark his smile.

“I thought I was invisible to everyone,” my friend Daniel Madewell said, as his eyes ignited.

“I thought I was invisible,” I said to myself, while turning to leave. Mystification accompanied my leave, suddenly entering my consciousness, dominating all tracks of my thinking. And, I was instantly, contemporaneously walking in the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal, where I witnessed its myriad of destination-tracks merge into one single super-track; a spellbound train of thought, centered on individual invisibility.

Perhaps the reason Daniel’s statement captivated me so, was that we were both surrounded by a gaggle of friends in common moment. You and I have long known that a feeling of invisibility can happen to a person, even when surrounded by other people. But, the revelation that a person can be subjected to such feelings of loneliness, while socializing with and in the company of friends seems to be a defining antithesis. A contrast for which I, for one, am incapable of comprehending.

But every one of us can grasp the powerful significance of proffered invisible mending acts. Which revealed effect is a gratified smile as genuinely offered by its recipient, personified as Daniel. Such an offering is generally viewed as small and insignificant. Yet, its affect yields an effect of incomparable significance, which is only fully realized by its recipient and it can change lives instantly. This change can be produced visibly or even invisibly.

This past week was also Rich Reuling’s fiftieth wedding anniversary as well as his birthday. And, while it was not my birthday or anniversary, it was a very busy day. It was a day so busy that I almost didn’t assume a moment to telephone Rich, to offer him heartfelt birthday and anniversary well-wishes. Yet, Daniel’s smile was still etched in my heart, so I took a moment and called Rich.

This call was not a video call, yet I could hear and feel Rich’s beaming smile as he said, “Thanks so much for thinking of me!” Then he went on to excitedly tell me of his plans to take a special road trip during the coming week with his bride of five decades. I didn’t see him on the call, but I can promise you, even though we were more than eighteen-hundred-miles apart, Rich did not feel invisible!

How will you mend someone’s invisibility today?

Watch my latest American Dream TV Segment

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fQmn4Fhlr7ftMqEjb64VFw1eCCK-YAZx/view?usp=drive_link