Today’s special guest Celebrity that stopped the shop was Cana’s very own, Abi Easter.
This was my first time having the privilege of meeting Abi and her focus today was on collecting donations for their Church ⛪ Golf ⛳ Outing.
Good News is that Abi is good being called Isiah’s Big Sis !
Also working on the conclusion of a two part story on the Cochran Family 👪 Basketball 🏀 Tree 🌳.
One year ago today, I challenged myself to post 📫 a Positive Story everyday for 365 straight days. It was a goal of mine and this morning 🌄 when I penned a story on Volleyball 🏐 Coach Cindy Edwards I received notification that I had accomplished the Mission !!!
We all have Good Days, Great Days and days that are less than. The challenge is to stay positive even when your day is not what you had hoped for.
Roughly 15 or so years ago I took our youngest daughter on a five campus College loop. Rebecca was exceptionally Bright and kind hearted so I wanted her to experience the same joy that Athletes do when they make their five visits to potential landing spots.
My lone condition was I wanted Duke University and the University of Virginia to be on the list. Kiddo added UVA-WISE, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Bridgewater College.
We set out to visit the five campuses and four of them had one common thread – they all made a hard sell for you to choose them. Then there was the folks at Duke who spent the day breaking down why you wouldn’t get accepted there.
Decades earlier, before my accident, I had my ❤ set on attending Duke but my lack of a proper High School 🏫 education prevented that from being a realistic thing. So I lived on Campus and pumped gas ⛽ for folks that were smarter than me and by a wide margin.
The ties to Duke Trace back to the Hospital 🏥 and the number of lives of members of my family 👪 they tried to save over the years. I excepted the fact that I wasn’t even close to being a candidate.
Fast Forward to the fifth of my five children, Rebecca. While I am known for taking credit for numerous things, I never took credit for the level of smarts that both of my daughters ended up with. Older Sister Sabrena graduated 🎓 from Liberty University and followed that with two more degrees and now teaches as a Professor at the University of Georgia.
The story went like this – we don’t care about your SAT scores or your ranking in your High School class. We want you to have a vision of how you will make the World 🌎 a better place.
While she didn’t make the cut that day, this is not a Sad story. Rebecca flourished on The Grounds at UVA and all while a teenager. She has since added a second degree and also is a Teacher now.
I left the Campus that I treat as my home deep in thought after a second round of effort came up short. Making the World 🌎 a better place ? What the heck would that even look like ?
My personal effort to make the World 🌎 a better place has been ongoing since that day. The past four years it has taken place in the Village of Laurel Fork, Virginia.
I’m just a guy that believes in God, Country, Family, Military and making other people Smile 😃. The tag line is Duke, UVA and wherever I stay. Everyone should 💘 where they live.
The challenge of creating material for 365 straight days was just as hard as it sounds. The key 🔑 is getting other people to participate in the process. There’s plenty of room on the Train 🚆 called Positivity and tickets 🎟 are free !
Carroll County is full of prominent people who treasure Duke University for the same reasons. Not because of the final score of a ballgame but because they are in the business of saving lives and trying to make the World a Better place.
One of those three is down there right now and I’m counting the days until we can reconnect.
If you see me out and about and you want on board, Please stop ✋ me and ask how ?
If you stumble across me and feel a need to roll your eyes 👀 just know that I’m an Aaron Sorkin wannabe that’s on a Mission from God to wake ⏰ up everyday and make someone else smile !
In closing, business was good this week, thanks to the duo of Casey and Combs. Casey purchased a timeshare from me in Boca Raton with just one condition – he wanted the interior walls to all be Duke Blue !
A trip around the Sun is in the books 📚 and hopefully at least 365 people not named Bill Gallimore smiled along the way.
Some key people that won’t be tagged in the Facebook Post –
Kris Richardson – for being my Partner in Mischief
Marion Harris – for raising 3 Amazing Daughters that he shares with us
Allen Worrell – for being a Top Shelf Homer !
Ron Cochran – For EVERYTHING
Rick Nester – for Blind Faith
Shawn Montgomery – for being Shawn Montgomery
Alyssa Ervin – for allowing me to lean into her incredible skill set.
Macie Adkins – for always having a smile on her face
Russell Smoot – for being Garrett Morris and for being Russell Smoot
Chris Mabry – THE PROTECTOR
Chris Leonard – for a long list of reasons
Debbie Odum – Unconditional support
The All-Star Work crew of mine in Northern Virginia
The players and Parents of the Lady 👩 Cavaliers Softball program
Tammy Quesenberry – for allowing me to hold the position of Vice President of the We Love Tammy Club !
Stephen Puckett – for everything you do at both of your Jobs.
Every single person that was brave enough to be Subscribers to our site.
Vickey Ritchie for all of her Late Night 🌙 editing !
Hagen Giles, Bo Goins, Sherry Slaughter, Ted & Brad out at Olde Mill Golf ⛳ Resort…
Kevin DeHaven and Darren Mathews
Paul Nester for allowing us to live in his World 🌎
Lawrence Nesselrodt, Joe Goddard and Kenny Howell at West Virginia Tech University.
The fine folks down at Appalachian State University for letting me participate in their well oiled Sports/ Marketing team.
The Hill – The events from yesterday at Bill Worrell Field are still fresh in everyone’s mind and one fun topic to look closely at is what are some of the things that made it so special ?
In my mind the day long event transcended Sports and moved closer to a News story. In my four years here in Carroll County it was the largest gathering I’ve witnessed where everyone was on the same side.
Naturally there have been larger crowds at numerous events that I have covered but this one was different, way different. Let’s take a look 👀 inside the numbers (Sports term)…..
The difference that has to be listed first is everyone in the Park yesterday afternoon was on the same team, the same side! Getting that many folks in the same place with just one singular thought process was a Blessing into itself.
For a day it wasn’t about Democrat vs Republican, Wealthy vs Poor, Virginia / Virginia Tech or about Caitlin Vs Angle and finally it wasn’t about young versus old. It was about Cavalier Proud.
We didn’t need to jeer an opponent or taunt an athlete that wears the other schools colors to enjoy the moment. Plain and simple, it was Top Shelf Feel Good from start to finish.
Everything I do is designed to shine a bright and positive light on the Community we all share. There are so many wonderful 👏 things taking place in our little corner of the World 🌎 that it is impossible to mention it all but this one sparkled from start to finish.
Velvet Creed Leonard took the time to try and capture so much of the festivities and we will be sharing her favorites 💓 later this week.
Casey’s Mother 👩 was as proud as any parent could be yesterday afternoon as she soaked in the glorious day and shared a touching thought when she said ” I just wish Casey’s Father could be here to share in this with him”.
The one thing that someone who is a relative newcomer to Bill Worrell Park can not capture, no matter how high his opinion is of his writing skills are, is tell the story about what the day meant to someone who has spent his life around the Park that honors Bill Worrell.
If I only knew a young Man 👨 that dabbled in writing ✍ and has a bit of a connection to Bill Worrell, the story would be a tear 😢 flowing read from start to finish. I will stop ✋ short of begging Craig Worrell to put pen 🖊 to paper 📃 one time for me but that’s a story that I would read over and over!
Casey & Combs are off to a rocket 🚀 start because the first thing they did was embrace our History. That in itself would make Delilah Brady and her hard working group proud !
Barbara Mandrel once had a hit song 🎵 titled ” I was Country before Country was Cool ” and later Ted Turner leaned into her song by saying ” I was Cable before Cable was Cool”.
Along those same lines, Coach Edwards and I go back aways. It would be fun to say that we grew up and went to different schools 🏫 together (insert laughter ) but we built our relationship together well before anything else in Carroll County took place.
Coach Edwards is getting ready to start another season of CCHS Volleyball 🏐 and I would tell you exactly what number is but Coach hides the identity of that number well.
There are some that might think she is concerned about showing her age but I lean towards the thought that she truly can’t remember. Each year her focus is on being the best leader of her program possible 💜.
The list of reasons that Edwards and her program are near and dear to Linda and I begin with the fact the Volleyball 🏐 is Lin’s favorite sport. She played some at the small College level a lifetime ago and loves 💘 the game to this day.
Reason #2 is I live in a World 🌎 were I love the underdogs. This is the main reason I am such a huge fan of the Duke University Football program. The gridiron 🏈 version of the Blue Devils is one of the ultimate underdogs in our Country.
This ties 👔 back to Volleyball 🏐 because its the Girls 👧 sport that plays opposite Varsity 🏈. In a effort to chase equality for each High School 🏫 program, VB in the fall is the leader of the pack when it comes to underdogs. Different from Duke Football, Coach Edwards has a long history of success on The Hill.
Coach Edwards is closing in on a monumental # in the World 🌎 that is High School sports – 500 victories in a single sport.
It’s a safe bet that a volleyball player that attends today’s Junior Varsity and Varsity tryouts will be on the court the night 🌙 that the milestone victory takes place.
If there’s a third and fourth reason that Volleyball season is extra special it would be Mama Petty and Trenton Miller. These are two special people that I rarely see outside of a VB match.
Coach and I go way back and later today we will take a look at her latest groups of Volleyball players. Junior Varsity tryouts begin at 4pm and Varsity starts at 5pm!
Great Capture from Casey Burcham by way of one of his buddies.
The Hill – Today was a special Day for everyone that spent time at Bill Worrell Field and it came at a moment when everyone could enjoy a breath of fresh air.
Casey & Combs (name diffently sticking) were your Hosts and they received assistance from a cast of many. While the list will be lengthy, it is our intention to give credit to everyone who played a roll in adding to the quality of the day long event.
The atmosphere was charged with energy and smiles were visible from beginning to end. At a time when there is so much for people to disagree about, for a day we were just All CCHS Baseball ⚾️ fans !
Kayla Nester sent in a Photo 📷 that captured a two generation moment.
Here’s one of the entire group of Alumni. Velvet Leonard will have a great copy of this one later !
This picture 📷 looks just like the scene in Field of Dreams when Ray’s Dad 👨 removes his mask. Pretty sure that Coach Nester shed a few pounds 💷 while umpiring.
We will be adding more to the coverage for days to come !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 