Lessons Learned

February, 2008 I pride myself on seeing the light in the darkest of moments.   I try hard to see the beauty in stormy weather.   Like everyone else, there are times when it is hard to find hope and joy when the burden of work gets you down. The past few months I have persevered helping a boy whose mom left sobriety behind, guiding young ladies who knew more that young ladies should know, and helping three young boys who loss a parent too early in life.    My heart has felt heavy and I have been grumpier than usual. There are no easy jobs in education.   Every job is challenging.    The political nature of the principal’s job is like walking in a snowstorm wearing a swimsuit.   It is my job to “buck up” and preserve through the challenges.     The kid part is the best part of my job.    The political part of the job is the tax for being able to work with kids. I must admit that I have been running on e...

The vibration of the table saw radiates up your arms.   The smell of fresh cut wood is in the air.   The whirling distinct sound of a carbide tip blade ripping through hardwoods makes the home workshop a sensory experience.   Your hand reaches for a tool that you first swiped from your Dad’s toolbox so many years ago to make a fort.    The memories are so thick that you can brush them away like snowflakes during a lake effect snowstorm.   Working with tools is a memorable experience. A home workshop is a solitude place.    A person escapes to the workshop from the stressors of daily life picking up tools to fix or make something useful.    Sometimes the useful experience is adding to the scrap box.   Only your most trusted friends are ever invited into the workshop and only a few of them are trusted to borrow your tools.   The home workshop is not a fancy place. It is as simple as a corner of the garage ...

  Executive Summary:   Oxley Thing Research Findings With my tongue firmly “planted in my cheek”,   I set out on my psychological research quest in March of 1962 to determine if the Oxley Thing is a genetically predisposition or a set of learned   behaviors.    I selected a unique group of Oxley’s to observe and document for the past 52 years. I could have chosen the descendents of John Oxley who was a historically significant explorer and surveyor of Australia.    For the purpose of this research,   I selected an obscure clan of Oxley’s who are the descendants of Ira and Margret Oxley from a small desolate rural village known by the locals as Penline, Pennsylvania.    The Ira Oxley Clan is descendants of English immigrants from the Staffordshire region of England.     The Oxley name is location originated meaning   “a clearing for Oxen”.   It could be said that Oxley’s have walked in...

Wearing the wedding dress that she chose with her beloved grandmother,   the beautiful bride held onto her father’s arm.     Her loving protective father whispered,   “If you don’t want to marry him, we can leave right now.”    The bride smiled and whispered,   “I love him Dad.”   Waiting for his bride to be at the top of the church aisle, the groom stood with his best man at his side.   His dad gestured with a thumbs up that he returned.   A loving gesture shared over many years between a father and a son.   He smiled because he loved that beautiful girl in that wedding dress. A few short years before the wedding day, the bride wasn’t too sure about the groom.     He was overly confidant, opinionated, and more stubborn than old mining mule.   She was kind, accepting and very considerate. The first time they met the bride asked, “Aren’t you Rick Oxley?” The groom only heard an angelic voic...

It’s been thirteen years, but I can still hear the phone ringing like if it was just a few minutes ago.    I can see myself picking up the receiver and hear a teacher’s sad voice informing me that a parent of one of our children had been murdered.    The next words she spoke still make my nose burn and my eyes water because no child should ever find her mom’s lifeless body.    The shock gave way to putting the “protocol” in place.   Phone calls were made.   The crises team met and a staff meeting would be held to action plan the day.    My custodian, my friend, greeted me like he did everyday, but today we weren’t talking sports and general school stuff. We had unspoken code.   No one would bring harm to our school.     I didn’t need say it.   Phil took care of security. Marianne, our secretary, was the lifeline on this day.   No one knows a principal and a school better than the school se...

Almost thirty-five years of sweltering summer dog days have meander along to the crisp coolness of a fall morning since I last heard the laugh of my friend.   Some of us are destined to be old men with great grandchildren playing at our feet as we watch and smile.  My friend's journey on God's green earth reached its summit when his eyes were filled with the teenage wonderment of chasing after that girl that made his head turn. Like many friendships among boys, my friendship with Joe started with a fight.  Not sure what we fought about but we became fast friends.  Smart mouths and the goofiness of being teenagers in the 1970's gave us a common bond.  Wrestling gave us a common purpose. Joe persevered through the lost of both his parents before he was in junior high.  He saw humor in every opportunity and was quick to make friends.  He lived as if somehow he knew that his life would end before it truly had a chance to begin. ...

Sailing with the prevailing winds would be an easy way to live a life.  Advice is often like the prevailing winds encouraging someone to follow the easy common course.  Sailing against the wind is about charting a life's course and making a choice to not just be blown around by the opinions of others. I must admit that there is advice about going along with the wind at my back that I should have followed. My stubbornness does not always transfer to determined perseverance.   However,  the true life defining moments are when you stick your face in the wind and go against the advice that you receive.  A life lived is having the courage to change your course and chose your direction. My first life defining course change was deciding to be a teacher.   The backlash I received from others was amazing.  Why would you want to do that?  You won't be able to support a family.   The prevailing wind was that I should go into business to make money. ...