Born for More (Part 1)

I've received a few comments about my blog title "Born for More," so I figured I would write the story behind it. This will be in a two parts.

During one of my hospitalizations at Good Samaritan (I think it was number two of three in June), I got to reflecting back on my life. As I counted my abundant blessings I realized I've had a pretty remarkable 32 years:


Yes, that would be Prom.

Almost half of those years (14.5!) have included my best friend, biggest supporter and beautiful bride Eileen. How fortunate have we been to find such a love and partnership so early in life! We celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary this coming week. (Does anyone have any good pottery and willows gift ideas?)

We have two precious and precocious children in Adah and Eamon. It has been a joy to watch them start to play together this summer - wearing dress-ups, building forts, skipping to my Lou (maybe all the way to the Lou).

Adah & Eamon at Uncle Michael &
Aunt Carrie's house in St. Louis.

I am so fortunate to have found a rewarding job in physical therapy education and a College willing to take a chance on me early in my career. I've been privileged to mentor almost 200 Mount DPT students through their clinical internships and towards their careers. In the past year I've completed and published a systematic review with some terrific colleagues from the Ohio Kentucky Consortium.

Trips for service and for pleasure have taken me across the globe to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Ghana, Mexico and El Salvador.

At play with little one orphaned at
HIV/AIDS hospice in Montego Bay. 

And the ever-caring response to my health trials reminds us that we have hundreds of devoted fans, friends, family and followers from L.A. to St. Louis to Cincinnati to Florida and countless places in between. Thanks for being one of those!

I look at this list of gratitudes and know that I lived a 32 years full of love, life, success and friendship. My life's stopwatch could tick its last tock, and I could be satisfied.

But I am convinced that I was born for more. Maybe 41.5 more years growing old with Eileen. (Yes, sweetie, I know that would be our golden anniversary); The chance to see our kids grow up, go to school, graduate and more; The opportunity to write another paper and accompany another several hundred DPT students on their clinicals. And travel to a few more corners of the world finding a few new friends while keeping old ones close, too.

Yes, I am convinced that I was born for more.