beBetter 

Opening our condo door in Oxford, MS (home of my Ole Miss Rebels), I hear this fluttering noise and quickly look around. What is that? Quiet now. It’s about 9 p.m., dark, and I have had a long day on the lake fishing so I’m really excited about getting upstairs and hitting the bed early.    

Last Friday, I joined Jennifer Wilson and Amy Vetter on their weekly Leadership Lunch Chat LIVE to explore generous leadership and the element of gratitude. What I didn’t expect was to leave our discussion both humbled by their generous feedback and also convicted to be more intentional with my generosity. 

Jumping into the car with CeCe, we are running a quick errand to pick up some plants for her gardening. Like her late father Poppy, CeCe is a master gardener and we have the yard to prove it. Beautiful!

There’s an old saying, “When you see a turtle on top of a fence post, chances are he did not get there on his own.” In my case, truer words have never been spoken.

CeCe is out for a few hours running errands (shopping, I suspect) and I am staring at three strands of chimes that I promised to hang under our porte-cochère. I can see they are very breakable, long and must be positioned where they don’t ring constantly but do ring. I promised to get this done but I admit, I hate these home projects and occasionally tear up more than I fix.  

What a painful blog to write and CeCe will be all over this after she reads it. I had just launched my boat into some rough water as three guys watched from the boat ramp. “You going out in this rough water?” they asked. “Yes, I’m going to the north end to wade so I won’t have to deal with the wind and the boat.” Turning the boat into the wind, hitting those first two big waves, my ego got the best of me. I grabbed my Ole Miss cap and swung it around like a cowboy riding a bucking bull, clearly showing out for the guys on the bank.

It's a beautiful Saturday morning on the Ross Barnett Reservoir and although the crappie bite has been slow, we have a few small fish in our live well. Thump! Oh yeah, I can tell by the bite this is a big fish. Setting the hook with a quick upward thrust of the jig pole, I feel the weight of this fish. Finally, I have a quality fish on. Here he comes to the top wrapped in lily pads. On no, he is hung and if I pull any harder, it will pull the hook out of his mouth. He is literally suspended right above the water. Instantly I'm yelling for help from my favorite crappie fisherman, Bruce. 

Before the pandemic, members of our profession would often say they'd make changes "someday." We had vague concepts, ideas, and experiments for how we'd change, but didn't act on them. The pandemic, though, has pushed us forward, causing us to make genuine transformation. I believe we are healthier today because of it.

As my brother-in-law Kris pulls into our driveway with Happy (my mother-in-law, who, as I previously blogged, loves to come over late afternoons for a glass of wine and to embellish some stories), I quickly rise from my chair on the carport and prepare to open her passenger door.  

My mother-in-law, Happy, loves to come over and visit in the late afternoons and sit by the fireplace outside, weather permitting. She can be quite funny and we so enjoy her visits. This afternoon she is really on a roll and sharing story after story.

CeCe is feverishly telling some of our best friends about TJ, our neighbor’s long-haired Persian cat, who likes to roam our neighborhood. TJ is a big, beautiful cat. As I’m listening to the story, she shares that TJ has been missing for three days and this is very unusual. Our neighbors are naturally upset and beginning to put posters out, driving around the surrounding neighborhoods and asking everyone to be on the lookout for TJ. CeCe is wrapping up her story when I decide to pipe up with my knowledge of cats.

CeCe is passionate about several variations of barre and loves her daily workouts. Frequently, I get a riveting (hehe) recap of these workouts for the day as we visit before dinner. Tonight, she is expressing her frustration with her ability to bend her left knee sufficiently to hold a certain position properly. She had a total knee replacement several years ago and has worked really hard to restore her full flexibility.  

Can you imagine if your surgeon was billing you by the hour? How good would we feel about those contrasting incentives? The longer the surgery, the more the surgeon makes. We might pay a lesser skilled surgeon more than an innovative surgeon who has perfected a less invasive and highly successful surgery.