Thanksgiving

I am extremely thankful for the place I live, where I am in life, and what I do. You may or may not have heard my story. I was doing well, leading the largest rescue mission in the country, on Skid Row in Los Angeles.  Not everyone’s cup of tea or desired career, but it was the peak of my professional career and a lifelong goal. I once remarked, “I worked my whole life to end up on Skid Row, and I made it!”And I meant it! That was absolutely true until our beautiful red-headed grand daughters entered our lives, stole our hearts, especially my wife Bonnie’s, then moved back to our hometown, Des Moines, Iowa. We helped them move back but there was a trail of tears on our way back to Los Angeles. I knew my days on Skid Row as the head of Union Rescue Mission, which was a big part of my identity, were numbered. Then came the news from my beautiful patient wife; “next year, when you celebrate your 65th Birthday, I am heading back to Des Moines and our red-headed grand girls, and you can join me if you’d like” “Gulp” “Oh Oh, I am in trouble, I had better alert my board chairman, in order to give a 1 year notice.” I would say I came back reluctantly, fighting, scratching and crawling to get back to California, however, not much later, I had a mysterious illness, cryptococcus meningitis wipe me out and nearly take me out so I traveled back to Iowa without a battle. I was not ready to retire despite my age, and despite my weakness, so I accepted the executive director role at CFUM.org, clawed my way back to good health, and began to recover from the challenging career move, loss of identity, change in geography, weather, and overall environment. I do not have the words or the space to adequately describe it thoroughly, but I assure you, it was a big change and took some serious time to settle into my new life. Yet, the other day, as I doubled as Children and Family Urban Movement’s Executive Director and the afternoon playground attendant, working from my phone as my office, I received a hug around my neck, just as I do from many beautiful kids every day, from every place on the planet, with every shade of beautiful skin, and I knew I was in the right place, doing the right thing, finding my identity, as the absolute best executive director and grandpa to many as I can possibly be. It only took me 10 months to adjust, but I am extremely thankful. Thankful for my family, the CFUM kids, their parents, our supporters, our wonderful Board of Directors of CFUM.org, and a fabulous group of talented teammates. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?