What A Difference A Year Makes

(Now where did I leave that Mallet?)

So a year ago on January 9, 2012 I wrote about the trials and tribulations I had just faced and how I was just beginning to crawl out of one of the lowest points of my personal life.  I entitled the entry "Finding My Sanity" and it primarily detailed how I was finally being able to make sense of my life after being personally attacked by a parent as a result of the casting of Beauty and the Beast all of which I chronicled here. 

Although I waxed rather optimistically in that January 9 posting, the truth was that her vindictive actions caused much more damage to our efforts to raise money for Sunrise Day Camp than I at that time anticipated.  Because of this parent's actions I wasn't able to talk about the Connor's Army Ride Across America to students, parents or even my colleagues at school until the very end.  I wasn't allowed to share this momentous undertaking with those people that I spend the most time of my life with (well aside from my own family) and it really caused a schism between myself and many members of the club.  A schism that I fear still survives in small amounts to this day.  I still get feelings that certain of that young ladie's friends who have yet to graduate are still viewing me with the same distrust, anger and ill will - the seeds of which were sown by this young lady and her mother.  And I have to say, of all the casting decisions I have ever made, this one has made in my life this one has made me the most sad because of the long term effects it had on the club and on the life of innocent children who could have been helped.

This all comes about as a result of the fact that we have recently cast the latest SHS musical and once again there are students whose lives have been affected and who are angry at me because of casting decisions I have made.  I wish I could say that I gotten used to it but I don't think I ever will.  However, a friend of mine who is retired from the High School directing game told me that he used to describe the casting process by using the analogy of putting together a puzzle.  There are many beautiful pieces, each of them completely unique unto itself and many are capable of matching up with other pieces.  However, its only when you get the right combination of pieces in the right spots that you can truly see the beauty of the complete picture.  Keeping that image in my head has helped me to keep my sanity this time.  Even thought I may find myself less patient with the kids now than I used to be, and much more ready to tell them to just shut up and either do it or don't I have learned.  This year has taught me that I need to continue to be true to myself and stop pussyfooting around those who didnt' get cast the way they wanted to be.  I can't rearrange the puzzle just becuase one piece wants to be in a different place.  So the year has made a difference.

Another difference is that the event that was once a dream has actually happened.   Every since I started the Connor's Army organization with the help of my wife Amy one of the main goals in the back of my mind was to ride across America to raise money to help the cancer community.  After working at Sunrise Day Camp three summers ago I knew that my effort to do so would best serve those kids.  The original time frame (Summer 2011) didn't work out because I waited to long to try and get sponsors and to get my logistics together.  After a second summer of working at Sunrise I knew beyond a doubt that my efforts would go to good use at the camp and I vowed that even if I had to do it alone and unsupported, summer 2012 would be the year it happened.

It wasn't easy to plan and to be honest without my wife's superior planning skills it never would have happened.  It was her logistics, her booking skills and her patience that made it possible.  Add to that the complete support of my three children (who also rode along) and we were committed (some would argue we should have been) to the plan.  After 74 days away from home and more than 6,000 miles of round trip travel, we arrived at the grounds of Sunrise on August 24th to the welcome of friends, family, staffers and campers.  We made some amazing memories along the way and I am so grateful to my family for making this possible.  Not only my immediate family but my sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, parents, and my ACT family.  Their love  and support (and in some cases sponsorships - thank you Laura) made our journey possible and in the process (when you add in Sarah's coming of age celebration) helped us to raise $25,000 for Sunrise - enough for four campers.  It was only half of our original dream but it will still make a huge difference.

It didn't come without a cost of sorts.  The first thing we learned is sometimes no good deed goes unpunished as we chronicled in a post at the end of August.  It seems our house sitter left us in worse state than we left and it took us a long time (not to mention quite a bit of money) to dig ourselves out of the complications his staying here caused.

The other cost came in the fact I wasn't able to join the Northport Fire Department, at least initially.  I went for the interview last May and it all seemed to be very, very promising.  However, at the end of the interview with all of the chiefs they asked me if I had any questions.  I let them know our plans for the summer, why I was doing it and asked if that would be a problem.  They all agreed that I would lose too much training time and I would end up coming in as the new guy that nobody knew.  I have to admit I was a bit crushed.  Every since we moved to Northport I've seen the ambulance going by our house and I would see the bicycle EMT's at all the parades and village events.  I've always wanted to be a part of that and give back to my community but I had to wait until the kids were older and I had finished my Master's in School District Leadership.  Originally I had hoped to join last December, get my training done and be a certified EMT before we left for the cross country trip.  But alas it was not to be.  I worred and fretted that perhaps I had lost my window of opportunity and wouldn't get the chance to join.

But lo and behold, I called them when we came back and to make a short story short - I was sworn in to the Northport Fire Department on December 6th, 2012!!!!!!

Since then I've been able to go out on about 40 calls and I make it my goal to try to learn a new piece of knowledge or skill set for each call I go out on.  So far I've been successful in that goal and I'm enjoying it so much.  I'm still in the honeymoon stage in that whenever my beeper goes off Amy and the kids still say "Bye Daddy!"  I know that it won't last much longer but for now I'm glad I'm helping my community.  I've already spoken to officers in the department and I'm DEFINITELY going to be part of the bike squad starting this spring as I don't have to be certified to work on the bike squad - I just have to go on calls with someone who is.  Next goal is to become a certified EMT!!!!  All in due time!

So, its been a busy year and I haven't touched on EVERYTHING that's happened in our busy lives but that's the majority of what's been going on with me and the family and Connor's Army.  I have lots of goals this year, and one of them is to reinvent our mission for Connor's Army - any suggestions out there?????  Perhaps I should revisit the idea I had last year to combine two of my passions and create a Connor's Army Bicycle Ballet Troupe;



Stay well (and thirsty) my friends and I'll see you on the road!