I started running when I was 14 with my Dad and my sister. It was only a few years ago, some 35 years later, that I finally outran my Dad. He did have several years of running before I joined him, so I had to catch up, so to speak. […]

As humans, we are gifted with logical thinking. It’s what allows us to exist in an organized society. It’s what allows us to run successful businesses, make calculated/smart decisions, and it helps us live day-to-day lives. But this logical frame of mind isn’t always a gift, as with most things […]

“I haven’t reached my potential yet. I am trying, but I am not there yet.” This is the same conversation I have with at least one student a week in some capacity. My answer is always the same: We never actually get there. Potential is the horizon that you’re traveling […]

The challenges with pursuing any creative endeavors are universal. At some point in the process of creating, whether it is making photos, painting, drawing or even just trying to write a goddamn paragraph (as I am doing now) there’s a part of your brain that’s judging (rather harshly) whatever it […]

Step 1: Learn to write. When you first learned to write, you likely started with your name. Before that, you drew with chalk and crayons. Your drawing and writing skills were unique to you. Your parents could pick a picture you drew off a wall of 30 pictures. You probably didn’t […]

Every August we head to our family cottage on the shores of quaint little Black Lake in Ontario. What’s usually a quiet, serene property nestled among towering pines on the quiet shores of an unassuming lake, transforms into a week-long family ruckus of loud personalities, passionate (yet, trivial) arguments, and […]

The camera app on my phone reminded me of a memory recently. It was the year Madelyn (who was then 12 years old) decided to join the school basketball team. She was — by far — the tiniest girl on the team, by height and weight. She was also — […]

As with anything in Lanny’s life, once he gets into something it’s always to the extreme. So, when he got into coffee 10 years ago, he quickly became one of those insufferable coffee snobs who had to have the best. When he makes his coffee, it’s a mix of art […]

I did a thing that I have not done before (except in grade school, when I was forced to by the curriculum). I wrote a poem. At least I think it’s a poem. It doesn’t rhyme (does it have to?). I didn’t mean to write a poem. It just happened. […]

We all have an inner pendulum. Almost every aspect of my life swings wildly between extremes. It most often swings between “I am less than” and “I am more than.” It often shows up when Lanny gets more admiration than me and I am suddenly catapulted into the “less than” […]