The Wizard

There is a man that lives under the following philosophies:

- Enjoy the path of success for life is a journey, not a destination

- Life is great, don't let anyone control your destiny

- We must keep moving in a positive direction

- Choose happiness

- Keep your eyes to the sky

- Help someone everyday

John P. Kolb is a man living in retirement in Utah. When I say 'retirement', I mean from the corporate world. He has held positions to include a CEO of a medical facility, the Vice President of Human Resources of Coca-Cola, a personnel director and an Account Executive, to name a few. Mr. Kolb served as a Sergeant in the Marines for five years and has obtained his masters degree in management. But Mr. Kolb, although he had attained respected positions throughout his career, has attained much more than most.

When my sister-in-law Cheryl and I visited Red Mountain Spa, we went on a nighttime adventure called 'An Evening With The Stars', which was hosted by Mr. Kolb. This man allowed the tour group to his house and showed us the most beautiful view of the stars through two high-powered telescopes. He also showed us quite an impressive array of stones he collected through years of rock hunting. During his presentations, what both Cheryl and I noticed the most was the absolute passion Mr. Kolb displayed.

Here was a man, now retired from a successful corporate career, was still excited to live and learn and experience life. He is proud of his kids (check out his son's band website - great bluesy sounds at http://www.klobsong.com/) and loves his wife (whom he fondly refers to as The Lady Of The Red Desert), and keeps busy with an array of activities that includes running Wizard Stones LLC, consulting, teaching finance part time at Dixie State University, teaching Microsoft programs and photography on cruise lines, and showing tourists like myself the magic of the night sky. In addition, for three years Mr. Kolb hosted a radio show in Las Vegas called 'The Thought Of The Day', where he tried to pass on the positive energy to anyone who would listen. I don't know about you, but I'm not that busy with a full time job and a 3 year old!

My point is this: Most of us go through our lives HAVING to do things (i.e. job, bills, taxes, etc) and forget that passion should be our driving factor. Our careers and the other more unpleasant activities of our life can quickly become the overwhelming driving force in our lives. Our work is only supposed to support our family and fun, but not the other way around, right? John Kolb is so passionate about rock hunting and astronomy, and spends his time learning and doing as much as he can in those areas. He's so passionate about those areas that he wants to share his excitement with others. I find myself thinking how it would be fun to do _____ [INSERT INTERESTING ACTIVITY HERE], but I'm so busy with work this week so I settle with 5 minutes of Internet surfing on that activity instead of just DOING it. How much time have I wasted on work stress or worrying about things that I can't control, instead of doing something fun with my family? Why do I choose to work late to try and get 'caught up' on my caseload (I've learned that this concept is an illusion, by the way), when I can come home to my family and plan a fun weekend activity?

My personal philosophy is this: life is what you make of it. If you are unhappy or stressed or display any one of the other myriad of negative emotions over where you are in life, it's because YOU put you there, and YOU are the only one who can change your situation and make it what you want. We should not trade out our passions because of poor time management and inability to prioritize what's truly important to us. Mr. Kolb, thank you for your example of following your passions and living life the way you want to live it.

Life is a journey, not a destination.

Fall Traditions

I enjoy the summer with it's heat and outdoor water-related activities. My husband loathes the heat but I love hanging out in shorts and a t-shirt, soaking up the sun while at the same time enjoying escape into an air-conditioned environment. But I'm not sad to see summer leave because my favorite season follows. Fall just exudes comfort and coziness. It's time to start the fires in the fireplace, smell the rain and feel the crispness of the air in the mornings. The trees are turning and losing leaves. And now it's time to start prepping for the upcoming holidays, which always seem to fly by in a blur toward the end.

The family headed up to Apple Hill today, a Fall favorite my husband and I have always enjoyed. We threw our diets out the window when we enjoyed a Boa Vista apple fritter (but resisted the urge to purchase the frozen apple pie, which continued to call to me as we drove away :'( As we drove up to what my son calls the 'pukin patch', his mouth literally dropped at the sight of endless orange balls. My husband and I hurried to educate him on proper pumpkin patch etiquette (i.e. no throwing, dropping or kicking the pumpkins). He was content with running from pumpkin to pumpkin and touching each one, shouting, 'pukin'! We later took him on a little train ride around a duck pond at El Dorado farms, which he learned how to stand in line and wait your turn (not something he necessarily enjoyed doing but he hung in there).

Last night we hung with our good friends, who are originally from Sweden. They mentioned a tradition their family indulges in at this time of year, which is a warm drink called Glug. I enjoy the virgin glug, which is a sweet combination of sugar, cinnamon, raisin, orange and clove flavors. It's when brandy or other liquor item is added kind of kills the flavor for me. But to each his own! I'm the same way when it comes to Egg Nog - the less added the better.

My family has a rather strange but long standing tradition simply called 'Fred' (yeah, my relatives reading this right now are shaking their head with this one). The original Fred was a (very tacky) laughing Buddha statue purchased by my older cousins at a flea market. Legend tells of this well thought-out purchase was a result of an exorbitant amount of alcohol. Fred was passed from person to person in our family on Christmas Eve. When you saw your name on the strangely large present you knew you were in for a one year stay. When Fred was presented to his new host family, a letter was read aloud detailing his adventures from the past year. Fred was happy, adventurous and a bit of a lush (do we sense a pattern?). He loved to chase women and always seemed to adapt well to his environment. If you became the Fred host for the year, then the rule was Fred must remain in the open at your residence, which excludes any closets or garages. At the end of the year Fred is passed onto another host family. The sad thing was the original Fred was lost along the way, so Fred Jr. emerged to keep on the tradition. Ok, we're weird.

What Fall traditions exist in your world?