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Playing Not to Lose
This week, I went back to see Dr. Robichaux to have the stitches removed from my left thumb after trigger finger surgery. The appointment went exactly as planned. Dr. Robichaux examined my hand, removed the stitches, told me everything looked great, and reminded me to take it easy for another week before returning to normal…
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Looking Glass
My friend Farlough was preaching to me the other day. Not from behind a pulpit. Those days are mostly behind him now. These days, Farlough is part of a two-man concrete crew working as a subcontractor on one of our apartment renovation projects. They’re replacing broken sidewalks and curbs one section at a time. It’s…
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Same Seeds
As happens in a lot of my stories, a simple errand turned into something more. I was back home in North Carolina the other week and stopped by the Verizon store in Mayodan to get a new screen protector put on my phone. The young fella helping me was new, and before long we struck…
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Mama Didn’t Raise a Quitter
One of the benefits of getting older is that if you stay in one place long enough, some of the people in your life stop feeling like service providers and start feeling like family. Our dentist, Dr. Thibodeaux, falls squarely into that category. Donna and I have been going to her for more than twenty…
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Conduct Is Your Eulogy
I was standing on a job site recently talking with Brian, one of our contractors. Brian is one of those guys who shows up, does the work, and doesn’t make a lot of noise about it. The kind of person you trust after a while because his actions match his words. I wish I could…
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What Gets Worked Before You Ever See It
Growing up in Stokes County, North Carolina, I learned early that farming doesn’t start when things turn green. It starts long before that. In the early 1970s, when tobacco season rolled around, most folks noticed it in the summer— when the leaves were tall, wide, and sticky, and the work was hot and unforgiving. That’s…
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Birdies, Boycotts, Brotherhood
I played golf today with my good friend, long-time colleague, and confidant Mike. Now let me be clear — neither one of us is headed for Augusta. We won’t be competing in anything that requires spectators, scoreboards, or hushed announcers whispering our names. But over the years, we’ve made real strides. We score pars now.…
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Built Slow.
We built a house in the middle of COVID.Not on purpose. It was just in the plans—as my dad would say. The timing looked fine on paper. We got permitted.We broke ground.And then, right on cue, COVID decided to go full bloom. The first sign of trouble came early. We had ordered Superior Walls for…
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Two Little Visitors
In the quiet woods of Sandy Ridge, North Carolina, something remarkable happened one late May morning. My cousin and her husband, who live just down the road from my parents, woke to anunexpected sight: two newborn deer curled up on their side porch. Not in the yard. Not under a tree. On the porch—as if…
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Do the Work, and Let the Rest Be
My Friday morning yoga instructor, Natalie, opened class recently with a line that stopped me in my tracks: “You have a right to perform your duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of youractions.” In simpler words:Do the work — and let the rest be. Funny thing is, I didn’t need a yoga…