Happy Birthday πŸŽ‚ to our Resident Angel πŸ˜‡, Vickey Ritchie !

Over the years I have lent my voice to somewhere in the area of just under 10,000 events across our great Country and I can say with great certainty that none of them mean more to me than Sunday afternoons spent with Vickey Ritchie.

Β Β  Vickey runs our Special Olympics Basketball πŸ€ program amongst other things and does it with an amount of Grace that is nothing short of Amazing !

Β  Not sure when the Birthday Girl will need my help again but I’m hoping that she is having a Day fit for the Queen that she is

Let’s call this one – Greg Talley, Treasure Hunter !

Allen Worrell is holding up the latest “find” from our version of Indiana Jones, Mr. Greg Talley.

Greg Talley stumbled across a rare piece of Golfing History in regards to the Southern Conference and Duke University. Greg, knowing my affection for the School 🏫 that 100 years ago went from Trinity College to Duke University, picked it up and gifted it to the OneofUs.Care Museum.

It turns out that shortly after the name change the Blue Devils had quite a golf β›³ team, led by Mr. Cliff Perry.

Perry was just recently named to the Greatest 100 Athletes in the history of the Southern Conference !

This trophy πŸ† is from the 1935 Southern Conference Golf β›³ Championship ( 89 years ago). No idea at all as to how it made its way into a Virginia antique store but I am incredibly grateful πŸ™ for Mr.T for bringing it to me and for the fun five minutes that Alan and I got to spend learning about the history of the Trophy πŸ†.

Bayard Storm, Walter Justin and Joe Powell rounded out the obviously talented foresome !

Mitch Reed and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes ✝️ have quite a Night planned on October 1st !

Β  The fall of any given year is as busy as it gets for me so when I received this from our new Friend Mitch Reed I could only hope that there was nothing on the Calender on October 1st.

Β  I won’t be able to attend because our CCHS Volleyball team has a home match that night but that commitment doesn’t hinder me in regards to trying to help Mitch get the word out.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes does so much for our Youth across both Southwest Virginia and the rest of the Country. Here is an opportunity to be in the room and get a closer look at just what the Organization is all about.

The common denominators between Mitch Reed and myself is that we are both Men on a Mission and are Father’s to a large number of our own children ( Mitch wins, 7-5).

Β  October 1st will be an evening full of people that are chasing the same passion and I believe that πŸ™ being in the room will be uplifting to say the least.

Β  That night on The Hill we will have 17 Junior Varsity and 12 Varsity Volleyball 🏐 players in action 🎬 and I take my responsibility to them very seriously. So I won’t be able to stand next to Mitch Reed and his Friends but know that its a room you will enjoy being in !

  Keep up the great work, my Friend !!πŸ™

The Long and Winding Road that is reaching its conclusion…

That it would be appropriate to take a Photo πŸ“· of Addie Greene and use it as an example of a child with a smile on her face. The rest of the World 🌎 is frightening enough, let’s just focus on Happiness !

___________________________

The journey up to this point has been one of a Lifetime and like anything else, you have to take the Good with the Bad. While I will be the first to admit that I didn’t come within a country mile of accomplishing our Goals over the past four years, there is still plenty of Positive to take away from the efforts !

Our friend and partner in the process here in Carroll County, Allen Worrell took the story from this week’s newspaper πŸ“° and put it online today so a few more people will see what’s taking place with the final $10,000.00 out of the $150,000.00 we set aside to try and see if it could make a difference in today’s World 🌎.

The ultimate goal was always about reaching out to our youth and seeing if it would be possible to change the path of someone trying to exist in a World 🌎 full of people lined up just wanting to knock you down.

Why is this so important ? I lived a childhood where I managed to graduate πŸŽ“ from High School without a single person paying attention to me or my future. My story isn’t a sad one because through the Grace of God and a boatload of hard work, I made it to a point where I could try to help others.

I openly write ✍ about how I borrow from Jimmy Buffett and Aaron Sorkin in my penning of a story. But equally important to me is both Tauren Wells and Tim Tebow. Wells gets me through a day and Tebow is a guiding light to everything that I try to accomplish.

Everyone who believes in the Bible has a different take on what it means to them. I am no different in that regard but there’s an exception for me in that I don’t believe that a person who doesn’t have a relationship with God isn’t a Good person.

Tebow will tell you that the two groups that are at the top of the list are widows and orphans. Others will tell you that we should take care of the weakest amongst us.

While I will never have the same resources as Tebow, I do have a similar degree of Fire πŸ”₯. I asked myself how different would my life have been if a single person that I interacted with while in High School had shown any interest in my future, would it have made a difference ?

Today was in part about the Carroll County High School Golf β›³ team. Trying to show support for both a young couple that Coach them and the 11 young men playing for them.

I played High School golf my Junior and Senior year and I don’t remember a single time that anyone would watch us or that we would get recognized for being part of the School.

Take any high school in the Country, whether the team is Great, Good, Average or other, and the most noticed Students in the School are the Varsity Football players.

The Varsity Football team belongs to the entire community and on Game Day the players get to roam the halls wearing their jerseys. They are the team that gets to have the Band play at their games and they play in front of folks that live and die with Football in the Fall.

I am excited for them and welcome any information about the team that someone wants to send in for purposes of sharing. My time is spent trying hard to support and encourage every Student Athlete that play all of the “other” sports so they too can feel noticed and appreciated.

Then there are the Students who shine in places that aren’t playing surfaces. Carroll County High School is full of impressive Students, using Ethan Edwards as a great example or Ashlyn Newman last year. Ethan should know that if he ever needs a partner for one of his Podcasts going forward, he should just give me a call πŸ“ž…

Our site was designed to be the polar opposite of any current type of Social Media, especially Facebook. The goal was to create a space that is 100% positive, without ads or people pushing their thoughts and agenda at you.

A place that you could wake up to with your morning coffee β˜• or Orange Juice, spend a few minutes breezing through short stories about Positive things that are happening in and around our Community.

The following never developed anywhere close to what I envisioned and folks were quick to point out that you will never succeed without Facebook. Finally convinced myself to give it a shot but the level of Anger out there continues to grow everyday. Its not just Political or Biblical anymore, it seems like people just want to fight with each other.

Even today, with the story created for the Golf β›³ team, I put a link to the story on Facebook. I have to laugh at myself because just how much of a hypocrite I feel like because I am trying to create an anti – Social Media site and then putting it on Social Media.

This is not a hobby for me, its something that I feel God is calling me to do. Choose Kindness sounds simple enough, to me anyway. I am chasing my Legacy and that’s where the immediate connection with Casey Burcham sparked. Our very first conversation with each other was about Legacy, way more important than Facebook likes.

Trying to build for our future is what I believe that we should be focused on and no matter how you look at it, our Children are our future.

The only goal for each post πŸ“« is that it can be read in 2 minutes or less so that it doesn’t feel like homework. I am sure that I’m past that point on this one but every so often I think a reset is called for.

The Baseball ⚾️ Alumni game was magical and it led to Ten former Cavaliers sharing their stories. This led to the single biggest week in the 15+ years that I’ve been working on our site. It was a great deal of Fun but the harsh reality is that most people only have time to read about what’s happening in their World 🌎. The art of cross-over caring ❀ is extremely rare!

Thank God for folks like Bill Gallimore πŸ™, someone who just takes pride in where he lives !

Last subject is November 3rd, roughly just over two months from now. That is the date everything but our site wraps up as the site will be part of my Life until it ends.

The contract that I signed to do a job that I would have done for free reaches its conclusion. This is where the $150,000.00 we used came from and the final $10K of it went towards our just laid out plan for the Academics, Clubs and acts of Kindness.

Tammy Quesenberry will be on point in discussing where the $15K before the final went towards here shortly.

Legacy isn’t about credit being given, its about knowing you moved the needle and I love the fact that the final $10K is about Teachers, Academics and Kindness !!!

Forget the myths about the story of a multimillionaire blowing into the Community trying to fit in.

Just a 60 year old Man that will have to take 26 pills πŸ’Š when I wake up after working my 3rd shift job.

We all are facing tough challenges everyday and we all try to get through them with our own mechanisms. Mine is trying hard to make the World 🌎 a better place, one small act of kindness at a time !

Closing note πŸ“ – Thank You to everyone that follows along besides Bill Gallimore !!!

Borrowing from Aaron Sorkin – ” What kind of Day has it been ?”. Today was a Laurel Fork kinda Day !

With all of life’s various obligations there are very, very few days that I get to spend every moment of it in our 🏑 out in Laurel Fork, Virginia.

I feel blessed to Love πŸ’˜ where I live so a day that doesn’t carry me past the Blue signs out on US-58 is a great day.

The view of the deck on the left and Little Ricky getting reacquainted with Big Blue on the right.

Today was a great opportunity to catch up with Mr. & Mrs. Chase Robinson and our 2024 – 2025 Carroll County High School 🏫 Golf β›³ team.

The group photo πŸ“· is up top and if you look close enough you will see the Robinsons standing πŸ§β€β™‚οΈ behind the team.

Going to test a theory now by posting the individual head shots of the golfers πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ. Want to see πŸ‘€ how many parents or grandparents will acknowledge their favorite golfer by hitting the reply button.

Most folks still aren’t aware of the effort to shine a positive light on the youth that might not get it otherwise. I feel pretty confident that Kevin DeHaven will take the time to identify his Son but would love to see if other folks would do the same…

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #1 [claimed by Terri ]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #2 [claimed by Kevin DeHaven]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #3 [claimed by Shelia Nester Phillips, which makes him one of Paul’s Grandkids]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #4 – only one that snuck through with the Sun glasses πŸ•Ά intact.

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #4, once Chase realized the Sun glasses. [Kristi Bunn]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #5, this young Man started a trend that was followed by a few of his teammates. Notice the hand gesture. [ Claimed by Eddie Reavis]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #6 [claimed by Joi Honaker Ogle ]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ#7 [ claimed by Michelle Reece Austin ]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #8

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ#9 [Bryce Cochran ]

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ #10

Golfer πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ#11…

Great time with the group ahead of their Wednesday afternoon practice, ahead of their next match up at the River Course.

Having played High School 🏫 golf a lifetime ago, I have a soft spot for those who play the sport. Much like Cross Country, the only fans that they will compete in front of is Family and Friends. Add in the fact that their season is nearing conclusion by the first week of School, it can easily be the forgotten Sport.

Big fans of the Robinsons and their group of Cavaliers.