Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Apologies I may have exceeded my expected word limit this week.

Continuing thoughts on “Who am I?” from last week, both heredity and environment point a great big, fat finger to my dad, Ken.

He was who most would call the hardest working man they knew. It’s cliche’ but no truer words about dad were ever spoken. It’s all he knew.

Shaped by the military, he wore a buzz cut his whole adult life. His uniform was a dark blue Dickies work shirt and matching work trousers, a truckers cap and Red Wing Wellington boots. Usually clean shaven but some winters he’d grow a distinctive, red beard that eventually gave way to the gray.

A college dropout, not because he wasn’t smart, but because he was distracted by the obligations of a young family and new business problems combined with the associated, inherent rewards of fixing things and getting the job done well. It defined him. Innovation was core to his (unwritten) business plan as a general contractor who was reliable, unconventional, and irreverent.

In my formative years, he taught me how to work hard, never give up, tell it like it is, always do the right thing-no matter the consequence …, run toward the light, even if it might be a freight train, take care of those you love the best way you know how, and to be a good human.

I was influenced as much by what he didn’t or couldn’t do as I was by what he taught me.

•I finished engineering school because Dad didn’t and I elected the electrical discipline, in part, because it was thought to be a more difficult curriculum than mechanical, the discipline Ken started in.

•I manage my thoughts, emotions and money, not perfectly, but I witnessed the consequences when those things go unmanaged.

•I raised my children to leave the nest and build their own success instead of expecting them to carry the yoke of a family business.

•I rely on contracts over word-of-mouth because miscommunication happens, memories are short & selective and people will take advantage when it appears they can.

•I thank God for my blessings daily and work extremely hard to stay positive in the face of adversity. (Anne keeps me honest on this.) Dad was prone to find fault and complain about it to whoever would listen and that disposition ultimately destroyed his dreams and tainted his legacy.

So, who am I?

I am the son of a good, well-intended, hard-working man who did his best with the hand he was dealt.

I am a child of the King who provides me all I need and loves me unconditionally.

I am also

*Husband to the love of my life, Anne

*Father to three incredible children, Aarika, Jeffrey and Zachary

*Grandfather to two (soon to be three) perfect grandchildren, Dylan and Logan

*Son to a strong, resilient, God-fearing mother, Clarice

*Brother to three tolerant siblings, Dan, Kris and Joyce

*A student of the full serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

and

*The captain of my soul as articulated in the poem “Invictus” by William Earnest Henley

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric