My problem as of late is that I simply can not keep up with the pace that life is presenting but in the same breath, it’s too difficult to hand something off to someone who I don’t have a history with.
A few weeks back, Lin and I were finishing up a non-stop loop up in Shenandoah Valley when we stopped ✋️by to see 👀 our long-time friends, Barb and Pappy Meade, as the final detour.
Pappy asked for a small favor as he was looking to get the trophy 🏆from his Fantasy football league he runs down to John Galle in Salem.
I smiled 😃 at the thought of having a reason to cross paths with young John Galle once again. I had a front row seat 💺to the growth of John, so yes, I scooped up the trophy and headed south.
The seventh of the seven books 📚 is going to be a non-functional, faith-based book about God using his powers to help a challenged individual reach remarkable levels in life. There are no spoilers here, but everything has to fall into place perfectly, including the need to finish the fifth and six books before turning 100% of the focus towards the ultimate prize.
Nancy Sorrell has a completed book five, it just needs to be produced. John Galle, pictured above with the youngest of his three kiddos, has agreed to take the handoff on book six !!!!
Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend and the Fellas like them too : Fifty years of feel-good stories that have been collected by me during life’s journey.
The idea 💡 of this book was hatched in the brain 🧠 of a 12 year old underachieving student was instructed to read 📚 a book by one of his teachers.
Mac Davis ( not the country singer, different one ) wrote a book titled ” Great Sports Humor ” and when you aren’t the brightest cookie in the box, it seemed like an easy read.
Mac just collected a series of stories, which had no natural ties to them and created a fun read. My stories are all feel good stories about people and events that I’ve been blessed to encounter over the decades.
Galle provided the cover photo 📸 for Book #2 (Strasburg High School )) and later penned one of the better reads about my life that has been written.
Carroll County High School, Page County High School, West Virginia Tech University are the three lead categories, with the fourth one being Editors choice.
Now, it should make sense why I couldn’t just pass this off to an unknown quantity.
John Galle is OneofUs.Care person, through and through, and I’m so proud to know him.
There is no rush to get this done as a young, hard-working father of three doesn’t need added pressure.
The fresh out of college writer is all grown up now and is an editor !
This link will take you back almost 20 years and is written by the #3 Child who has gone on to accomplish soooooo many things. I’m not sure if it makes the cut or not, but it’s an important one to me !
Howard Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day :Amen, Coach !Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Later today, I will be meeting up with Mr John Galle up in Salem, Virginia, and this sit-down is something that I’m truly looking forward ( I have to use truly because I struggle to use genuinely, due to my lack of understanding how to spell words….
Bill Turner and I run into each other from time to time when I’m up in the Shenandoah Valley. We go back twenty years or so, to when we worked together on the Luray Wranglers. Bill owned the team and was the local version of the legendary, Al Davis. Allen Worrell will get that reference as well.
Yes, I have visited somewhere near 1,000 stadiums 🏟, parks, and various venues over the past 50 years, I invite others to share their adventures as long as they fit into a G rated family show.
Turner is the opposite of me in that he appears to be getting stronger as he gets older, while I’m not sure if I can function without a nap or two.
Mr Bill checks ✔️ in after his latest NFL game adventure !
Fun NFL fact, I have lived in the home market of 19 of the current NFL teams, so I’m pretty much a long a lock 🔐 to have a horse 🐎 in the Super Bowl 🏈 each year ! Bill, he’s just out trying hard to enjoy life and make people smile….
Bill, if you find yourself heading to a Colts game, keep me in mind because you won’t find a bigger Daniel Jones fan !!!
Get up, get out and have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌😇🙏
Let’s start with Cindy Edwards and Company. There are now four weeks left in the Carroll County High School Volleyball season.
Seven matches remain with three taking place on The Hill and four more on the road ➕️ one ” off night.” One of the three home matches is different because it will include the Middle School while another will be Senior Night.
Tomorrow night is the first of two with James River High School. The Knights are the lone Three Rivers District team that our Lady Cavaliers have yet to face.
My unofficial math has us at 4-1 in the league with seven to play, meaning tomorrow night is halfway through the TRD schedule 📅.
So, Tuesday and Thursday this week belong to Cindy Edwards !
Linda has a medical appointment on four of the five work days that I will need to get her to, and there is no reason to elaborate any further about that.
Next on the list is Vickey Ritchie !
Yesterday afternoon, I heard Coach utter two words that I figured I’d never hear !!! Vickey Ritchie admitted, out loud, that she was tired. She gives everything she has on a daily basis and somehow plows through it without flinching.
Yesterday afternoon from 2pm until 4pm, we combined forces to create a ” show ” that couldn’t have happened without some AWESOME folks from within our / her community !
Vickey gets the top spot on both Friday ( Little Feet ) and Sunday with our next edition of Who’s coming to Dinner / Practice ?
Saturday is normally blocked 🚫 off for the Duke University Football team, but this week is one of our two bye weeks. I will need to adopt another team for the weekend because it is a mental break time slot.
There is a vital meeting that will take place on two occasions this week. One will happen later today up in Salem and the second one on Friday afternoon on The Hill. Both will change the path of what’s next in the Big Picture 📸 we call life.
Thursday involves the flipping of the calendar 📅 from September to October. This means that Greg Bolen will step down from the King of the Banner and he has to be replaced with the next contestant on Who is the face of our Efforts to save the World 🌎 from the likes of Doctor Evil 😈?????
Then there are lingering questions about things like Chick-fil-A ??? Does the food taste better because it is God’s food, or is that just what you tell yourself when you wait in line like we did on Saturday morning down in Durham ????
Next up is the fact that for the twelve time this year, my phone storage is sending me cries for help. See, life happens faster than I can process it by a wide margin.
Blind faith on display here as this video 📹 came from Vickey Ritchie, and I haven’t watched it yet because I was also tired yesterday.
Shawn Montgomery will have a cross country meet once or twice this week, Half Pint Harris will also play ▶️ one or two matches.
I’m going to see Travis Osborne at least once this week and Austin Keith twice, which are both things to look forward to !
Now, if someone out there wanted to help the cause, here is the graphic that I could really, really use !!!!
Take a picture 📸 of a witch 🧙♀️ and replace the face with one of Vickey Ritchie. Next, take a picture of a mangly cat 🐈, place the Cat ( probably should be a black one ) and then put my face on the it’s face.
It’s now 3:30 a.m., and I might have the opportunity for a nap before the creation of our Morning 🌄 Brew at 6 am.
Don’t forget, this pic means that there will be an actual reason to stay in contact with that Kristy Jones lady !
Of no, I just remembered that I have five more personalized. Thank you cards to write from the Alumni Game…..
Now, because this story isn’t really about any one person, there is no reason to send it out to a group of people.
So, now you know why the group of diehard readers are sooooooo important to my mental health.
This story is / was about what all is bouncing around in my brain 🧠, to the point where it woke me up at 2:00 am.
The biggest reason why I don’t go looking for things to care about, it’s because I struggle to keep up with the ones I already have.
Everything I have typed to this point is of equal importance to ” The Cause “
But seriously, if someone can create that graphic I need, I will compensate them with two slices of pizza 🍕🍕 at the next home volleyball 🏐 match ! That is a 2-fer because for that person to claim their reward, they would have to attend a volleyball 🏐 match !!!
Normally, I would circle 🔵 back at this point and recap this story, kbut the circle would be too big !
It’s almost time to start the wall to wall coverage of Pierre Curtis and Furman University Women’s Basketball 🏀 !!!
Here’s my take on the photo above. I knew that Alyssa Ervin has a rather cute little brother, but I had no idea that she had a sister too.
Life is full of surprises, and that is what makes it worth living !
For readers that haven’t seen the first four takes, we hosted an unofficial OneofUs.Care event a couple of weeks back at Cavalier Park.
Instead of trying to get by with a thank you to everyone who helped me, I made a commitment to myself that each person or group would get a personalized Thank You Card.
This one is dedicated to Mr Greg Bolen, the same one that has his name on the top of my site, for another three days, anyway.
There are two jobs that are at the top of my RESPECT list. The first is anyone who wears a uniform that requires them to carry a weapon, and the second one is anyone who wakes ⏰️ up every day and teaches in a classroom.
The size of the classroom or the level of education doesn’t make a difference. Pre-K, kindergarten, all the way through a professor at a college or university.
I have met a boat 🚢 load full of soldiers and officers of the law in my lifetime. The same can be said for teachers. Heck, I even raised two of those !
Greg Bolen is the sole individual who I have ever met that somehow manages to do both at the same time !!! Not only does he pull off the daily double, but he falls into a third category by being super – sized.
The number of people on The Hill that have a story about the day that they played basketball 🏀 against Greg Bolen is a pretty high number, and most of them still feel the pain.
Why did I want to have Greg Bolen be a part of the event again this year ?
First, Greg doing the worm 🪱 at the previous years’ event actually made the front page of the Carroll News.
Second, I have the utmost love and respect for his demeanor. If anyone has the ability to be ” Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown” (thank you, Jim Croche), it’s Officer Bolen. Yet, he makes a conscious decision not to choose that path.
Third, I wanted to ” rub elbows ” with one of the handful of people who get what I’m trying hard to accomplish here on The Hill. I am just trying to make High School a little more enjoyable for as many folks as I can.
Fourth, I needed Greg to be an 🧊breaker for Joi Ogle and Blake Reed’s Mom 👩 as those two were going to be stepping way out of their comfort zone. Side Note 📝, she crushed that part !
Fifth, we wanted a celebrity to toss out our Ceremonial First Pitch.
My favorite thing about Greg Bolen is the fact that he doesn’t see himself as a ” Celebrity “. But when you are an officer, a teacher, a comedian, a loving husband, a great father, and grandfather ➕️ a nice guy 👦 with a kind soul, all at once……
The list of people who get the banner for the month of October has been narrowed down to just three now, but I sure have enjoyed paying homage to the MAN that is Mr Greg Bolen !!!
Thank you, Greg Bolen ! Thank you for both protecting us with your badge and educating our youth !
Martinsville : If someone asked me what I did for a living, my answer would be that I’m very good at reading a room and then devising a plan to correct the issue I see.
Last week, we ( Carroll County High School volleyball 🏐) played a Monday night match at Pulaski County, and we lost to the Cougars, dropping two straight after opening at 7-1.
Not wanting to see the losing streak reach three in a row, I coordinated a Cav Man drive by on US-58 in Laurel Fork. The fact that two of the owners jumped in bumped it up a notch or two.
Both reams defeated Bassett that night to my job was done ✔️.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago when the team was headed over to Martinsville to face the Lady Bulldogs. My first thought process was to recreate the Cav Man scene, but there was no way that would make a big difference the second time around. The ladies might be young, but they are bright 🌞.
First things first, there was minimal chance that we were going to lose to the ‘ Dawgs so the focus was on making the players smile and laugh in between Coach fussing at them..
My wife watched me create little cheat sheets for both rosters because while I think that I know all 30 players without help, that is not a chance you take.
During the JV match, I took the time to count every single person in the gym who wasn’t wearing a VB jersey. Sadly, the answer was 29. The JV match felt like it was being played in a library, and at any minute, some lady with glasses was going to come by and shush us if we cheered at all. It was kinda sad, to say the least. The JV swept, and then I crossed the court to chat with the Boss !
The level of trust and appreciation that Cindy Edwards has for my efforts is the key 🔑 to our partnership. The conversation was a short one, and I headed back across the gymnasium.
What Cindy Edwards and our Lady Cavaliers needed was a full-blown cheerleader, and that was within my wheelhouse. But, late in the first set, Ali Wright went up for a kill and sadly rolled her ankle.
The older of the Wright Sisters was done for the evening, and my attention turned to their Mother. She was sitting just behind me, snapping pictures 📸 with her trusty camera. Ali went to the bench and iced 🧊 her ankle for the remainder of the match.
Carleigh is a freshman, three years younger than her Big Sis. She has been part of the program for a bit now, but this is her first at the top level.
Now, you shift gears ⚙️ a bit by cheering harder and keeping an eye on the younger Sister.
While this story is about Mama Bear 🐻 and her two Cubs, it would be wrong to not acknowledge that the injury slid Raylee Goins into a different role and Patti’s Kiddo excelled in the attack mode slot. How high was she jumping, asked the audience ???? High enough that Howard Mayo would enjoy watching 👀 the game film 🎥!
Hi – D Pain- ter, 👏👏, HI- D Pain-ter was one of many chants that I came up with, Alyssa Law-Son was another. Cheering every good play and serve, remaining quiet when we scored points off mistakes made by the home team. Toss in some encouragement when we made an error.
Little Sis had a rough serve along the way, so when luck had her on the service line trying to complete the sweep, my brain 🧠 raced for the home run cheer.
It went like this – take us home, Carleigh.
Home turned into home run, then a glance at Mom staring at her older Cub, who was still icing her ankle across the way. I immediately thought about the scene in The Pride of the Yankees ( 1942, Gary Cooper as Lou Gerhig ) in which a little boy dying in the hospital is promised two home runs.
I look at Lil Sis and shout out, ” Win this for your Sister “. She then served our 24th and 25th points, and we all went home happy 😊
Now, the odds that a group of teen age girls 👧 would know a famous baseball scene from an 85 year old movie is minimal at best, but I promise you this thing for sure. Half of the group might have appreciated it, and the other half might have found it embarrassing, but none of them left there talking about the saddest, quietest volleyball 🏐 match in the history of the world.
The things that you do for other people’s kiddos……
We return to action on Tuesday night on The Hill, where all I have to do is hold a 🎤🎙🎤.
Two more closing thoughts – first, while I didn’t grow up in Carroll County, the part of US-58 that runs between Martinsville and Buggs Island Lake is where I spent my youth. That is where my father grew up and we couldn’t afford vacations so the only place we ever went was to my grandparents’ little country store.
When the match ended, I went over and thanked their fans for being gracious about one person who wouldn’t stop making noise. Not one time did I cheer against them, just for us. I ended the exchange by inviting them to visit us on The Hill, and if they did, I would make sure that they felt welcome 🙏.
There was one final Wright Sister smile or two cracked. I had asked little Sis if she loved her Big Sis she half smiled 😃 and half blank stared me, like what is his deal ?
As we were about to leave, I asked Ali if she knew her Sister loved her ? I added, she told me so….Ali responded back, ” She lied to you……”
Circle Back 🔵
I am an exceptional cheerleader
Carroll County swept both matches
Ali Wright is recovering nicely
Raylee Goins has made Hops !
Our unofficial record is now 14-5
Mama Bear 🐻 raised two neat young ladies.
Half Pint Harris made an appearance from Ferrum
Travis Osborne has a neat set of In-Laws
Cindy Edwards enjoyed me chanting Cin-D Ed-wards over and over.
Scratch that #9, but Coach knows that I have her back 100%, so she has learned to tolerate me !
Some of Cindy Edwards players went on to play College VB. Others took a different approach….
I’m already prepared for Al-lsya Er-Vin to start playing Hoops !
Carroll County High School volleyball, coming to The Hill on Tuesday night !!!
