Before I begin, I have had a number of people ask me if I would blog my thoughts so I recreated the website so that it is possible.  Will blog periodically but will only continue if I feel that it is helping someone. Positive feedback would be appreciated.  Negative feedback will not be needed because if it affects you negatively you just need not read it.  Life is too short to be hurtful or hateful.  I have never considered myself to be a great father or even a great person.  I have been blessed with two wonderful sons and a measure of wisdom that comes with a loss of one of them.  

The publisher said I had written a recipe for being the greatest father in the world and had taken away any reason or excuse one might have for not being a good father.  I call this Godly wisdom as I had never thought about it before until after Cole’s untimely death.  Cole and I had a wonderful relationship.  One that would have strangers approach me and ask me how to have a relationship with their children like I have with mine.  Cole was at the University of Texas for two years and two months.  Although we may have talked several times a day every night at 9:30 my phone was going to ring and I was going to hear my son say, “Dad, I love you so-o-o-o much!”  After his death the University of Texas football team was so moved by our relationship that for a year until my younger son, Chase, would go to Texas one of the players would call me at 9:30 and tell me they loved me.    It was on one of these nightly calls when a football player called me, told me he loved me and then asked me this question.  “Mr. Marc, I don’t have a daddy.  I don’t even know who my daddy is.  I don’t have a good relationship with my Mama. She only calls when she wants help with my brothers and sisters.  Would you teach me how to be a good daddy?”  I never really thought about it before and didn’t think about it then.  It just spilled out of me coming from a higher source.  I simply stated, “Son, you don’t need a role model or a daddy to be the greatest daddy in the world.  All you have to do is be the daddy you always wanted and because you are so passionate about being a good daddy you go do the things with your children that you wanted to do with your daddy. You will be a better daddy than the kids that have daddies and just take them for granted.   Most recently on Fathers Day I had gone to the cemetery to visit Cole in the early hours of the morning.  On the way back I began to think about Chase and how special he was and what an honor it was just to be his daddy.  I actually considered going and buying him a present to give him something back for the joy that it made me feel.  I became emotional as I realized if I can feel this much joy in being a father then how much joy does our Heavenly Father feel in us being his children?  Would he be as proud of me as I am of my sons?  A question we should all ask ourselves.   Happy Fathers Day Marc  

This week I am saying a physical goodbye to a great friend. We have not been able to spend much time together in a number of years because of a busy schedule of jobs and raising our children. My definition of friend is someone who has invested in your life.

My friends name is Lee Baldwin and it was Lee who introduced me to the joy of real duck hunting. Before Lee, my duck hunting experience was limited to standing in a clump of button willows on a pond in a wooded area. Lee introduced me to blind hunting and the art of calling the ducks to you instead of bushwhacking them when they came in to roost. Lee guided duck hunts and his calling ability in the early part of the season was so good that you would have to shoot ducks in self defense as you stood there in the blind.

Lee was not a person that would tell you what to do or how to act. He would make suttle suggestions and I learned quickly to not take them lightly. On one occasion while returning from hunting we stopped to get a pizza at a little hole in the wall where the Italian lady could speak little or no English. Lee knowing I liked spicy food suggested I get the medium and not the hot. I should have listened. The next day in my obvious discomfort Lee could have said I told you so. Instead he purchased a bag of ice explaining that ice had more uses than cooling down drinks or keeping shrimp from spoiling. While sitting on that bag of ice Lee became my best friend.

Without Lee I would have never experienced the joy of shrimping. Lee was not a wasteful person. We cooked everything that trawl caught with the exception of a few car tires and rusty beer cans. Lee was also a great cook and introduced me to great Cajun cooking that I absolutely loved with the exception of the Italian lady I referenced earlier.

After Lee developed cancer, I would pray for him daily to be healed. I don’t know why God didn’t heal him, but I don’t feel that we should be mad at God. God made a perfect world. It was man who caused the diseases and made vehicles and drugs that take so many of our loved ones’ lives. When I realized Lee wasn’t going to be healed I began to pray for God to send him an angel to ease his pain and bring him peace. I was praying a prayer that had already been answered. That angel was Julia, his wife and my sister. Absolutely no one could have done more or would have done as much. We all could hope that when our time comes that we have a Julia in our lives.

After the news of his death I question myself as to what Lee would say to us. I don’t think Lee would need to say anything. His life as a husband, father and friend said it all. Death begins when you are forgotten and as long as I live Lee will not be forgotten. I look forward to seeing you again and I am going to miss you, my friend.