Less is More/ Life at Top Knot

​ Added some logs to the front of the cabin today. Going to put a roof over the deck. The one in the middle is 17 feet long and goes from a diameter at the bottom of 12 inches to 9 at the top. The google estimates it at 450 pounds. Dropped it 100 yards away and had to get it in place.  Also got a desk to start writing my 3 books in earnest.  Included a pic that popped up this morning of the cabin 2 years ago today. Very much in its infancy. It’s come a long way in 2 years.  The other two pics…part of my talk about resilience and the challenges of building the cabin. The gory one is the titanium plate holding the fusion in my neck together from where my abusive brother broke it when I was young. Didn’t get the surgery until I was 35. The other shows the 63 staples in my back when I had my lumbar fusion/laminectomy. My children affectionately call it “dad’s 4 foot butt crack”. (But they say it with love 😜) By most reckoning, I shouldn’t be moving 450 pound logs with a spin...

Was thinking this weekend about how if you stop paddling while working upstream, you lose ground. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. There isn’t staying still because the world keeps moving.  Did some upgrades on the cabin this weekend and decided I am going to put a roof over the deck. It will be a bit of an undertaking, but every bit of this is a labor of love and it keeps me moving. The weather was wonderful. Thunderstorms came through. Thunder rumbling in the valley and over the mountains while rain hits the metal roof. It’s a real soul recharger. Part of what made me want a roof over the deck. It won’t be insulated. The rain will resonate all the more.  The cabin….and I….will never be done. There will always be the next thing to do. ​

I was principal at an elementary school that was robbed back in 2013. For 13 years now, I have been doing Victims Impact Panels for the Montana Department of Corrections. Probably have done 75-100 of them. Part of the process is the offenders writing letters to the speakers afterwards. I’ve always valued these as you hope you make an impact. These are a few from a talk I did last week.  As a kid, enduring continuous physical abuse from an older brother, I would wonder why I was going through it. Had times I wanted to end it all to make it stop. Part of the survival of all that shaped me as an educator and school administrator. I was and am anti-bully. Did a TedTalk on it. But it also shaped my response to this crime. I share that with the offenders. You never know how your experiences, good and bad, can shape your future.  I’m now a certified suicide awareness speaker and so leadership and mental wellness trainings across the US, Canada, and elsewhere. ​ One of my favorite say...