Never

Have you ever stopped to think about all of the things that you said you would never do in your lifetime? I am guilty of saying that I will never do certain things for one reason or another, but I have never really thought about the "why I wouldn't do those things" part of my statements.

I will start with an easy one of my own. I said that I would never fly in an airplane. A majority of people on this earth fly quite frequently, but I was not going to be one of those. Was it because of 9/11? No, because I made this declaration far before 9/11. Was it because I was afraid that the plane would crash? Not really because there are statistics out there that state that more people die annually in automobile accidents than in airplane crashes. I really had no good excuse other than I didn't want to fly. I DIDN'T WANT to fly.

I got on my first airplane in the Des Moines airport on January 2010 with my best friend Roger Brecht. I wasn't nervous, other than the not knowing how to get through the airport security and so on, but that is why Roger was there, to help me through the things I didn't know. I was flying to Miami, Florida to see Iowa play Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. I made it there and back with no problems other than a 2 hour delay in Indianapolis. Why did I decide to get on a plane when a swore that I would never do such a thing. Easy, I wanted to see Iowa play in a bowl game. I WANTED TO.

This leads me to my thought of the day. If I want it bad enough, I will do it, regardless of the reasons that stopped me from doing it before.

I had some encounters with people who won't fund raise because they don't like being told, "No Thanks". My question to them is, "Well don't you want to accomplish what ever goal it is that your fundraising for?"

I guess what I am trying to say today is that we should spend more time talking about the things we are going to do, rather than the things we will never do. Matter of fact, don't put limits on your life. Don't talk about the things you'll never do, because there may come a time when you do what ever that is to get what you want.

I said I would never get married. I said I never would have kids. I said I would never let my kids play soccer. I said that I would never live in Urbana.

Those are a few of the things I said I would never do.

I have been married for ten years because I found a woman that I love and I wanted to keep her in my life forever. I have 2 children because after marriage, I wanted to have a family. My girls both play soccer because I wanted to have them make their own choices and most importantly be involved in something. I own a house in Urbana because that is where the house we were looking for was located.

This just scratches the surface of the things that I had said I would never do and now am doing. Never is a long time. Life is too short for "nevers". Although there is room for one "never" in my life....I never want to say never again.

Have a great weekend.