Hags Huddle

My actual job description is part time starter.  I am not completely enamored with the title probably because of the number of projects I have hanging right now.  I actually am one of the part time starters at a wonderful 36 hole public golf complex.  Our job entails verifying payment, filling range practice balls so golfers can warm up, keeping tee off times on pace, confirming golf cart rules for the day and hopefully providing a smile to get our customers off to a good start.  There is that root word again.

Starting an endeavor can be taxing regardless if it is before April 15^th especially when it is your maiden voyage.  I will never forget our daughter getting interested in playing lacrosse back when she was 13.  Our area had something called Fall Ball, which was basically girl lacrosse players getting together to do drills and practice their skills for the upcoming spring season.  Driving our younger one to this first practice was quite stressful as she knew no one and only her passion for the sport kept her in the car for the ride over.  “What am I supposed to do when you drop me off?”  I told her to go up to the first girl she saw and ask her to throw with you.  I said a prayer asking for a receptive player and that she would have a fun experience.  Praise the Lord it all worked out and she ended up having a very successful lacrosse career.  Small positives can lead to larger triumphs in life.  Financial planners love to show you what compound interest can do over time.  I found the same is true with compounding confidence.

How about what is new in your life?

One that I experienced was making a new meal for a New Year’s Celebration back in 2025.  Growing up in Pennsylvania, pork and sauerkraut was a tradition but I figured after living in the South for over 40 years I better get with the local program.  So as you see in the picture, I gave Collards, Black eyed Peas and Cornbread a go.  Sweating out not wanting to screw it up, I used plenty of bacon and my side kick for the cornbread was a full butter dish.  Bacon jazzes up not only entrees and appetizers but also book covers as Bac, my good friend from Erie, PA, designed my book cover.  The first attempt at this southern specialty turned out satisfactory with the key being, only let Yankees taste test your initial batch.

Starting something new can be filled with uncertainty and doubt.  On the flip side it can be refreshing as it takes you out of that dull routine I know I fall into because, well it just seems easier to touch my repeat button.  

Springtime is a season of renewal and a perfect calendar fit for new beginnings.  I had to post a picture of azaleas in our neighborhood and the colored eggs for our upcoming Easter Egg Hunt for our grandchildren this Sunday.  That gets me to the most significant part of this piece.  Easter is the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  It represents the victory of Jesus over death, his sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life.  It is a glorious time for renewal of our Christian faith or a wonderful time to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.  I am confident from there God takes over as you worship in spirit and truth to give you the full time starter who takes you through the finish line.

It’s the middle of winter, the golf ball is hiding in the bag after the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina received up to 15 inches of snow and your NFL team just got hammered in the playoffs.   The Y is jammed and your personality is attempting to emulate Ebenezer Scrooge.  As the treadmill goes to work on your holiday overage your survival mode kicks in by wandering to a warm breezy summer day with a freshly picked tomato in your hand.  You take a bite and relish at the homegrown taste.  But! Something is missing that will take this gorgeous ruby fruit to the next level.  Salt!  Adding what is readily available that can make quite an impact.  Let’s ponder on that as some of us try to take our focus off the BLT Sammie.

As we delve into fine tuning the field of adding value, a common theme for the first quarter of every new year, we have this somewhat annoying but necessary phrase knocking on our conscience door.  “How can I improve?”  After being alive for the Waterford Crystal Ball dropping 70 times my mindset goes to what can I get out of myself that I am not utilizing to its fullest.

I believe we all have experiences in our life that hang around upstairs just to make sure we continue to understand their importance to our journey.  Singed in my brain is a discussion / being yelled at, by my junior varsity basketball coach.  Playing practically the whole game with only a few breathers I thought I made a conscientious effort of not having any personal fouls.   My coach in his demonstrative way, was quite clear in correcting my high opinion with this analogy.  “ If you don’t have any fouls called on you, it simply means you have not engaged enough in playing defense, rebounding and trying to drive to the bucket with the ball.   So quit trying to be passive (cleaning up his version of motivating vocabulary) and get more involved in the game!”

From that teaching moment and other experiences I learned that I needed  to push myself when it came to certain activities outside of my comfort zone.  We were all given unique gifts by God when we were born.  Some of those gifts are natural and don’t require much polishing.  Others we have to put in the hours to master the crafts that attract us.  Utilizing those talents to contribute to society is my personal focus.  Making an uncomfortable action step without a buddy for support can be quite taxing, regardless of the time of year.   I can hear an echo that says give me a feel good story so I can build on my mental LEGOs wall of confidence.  I happen to love Christmas caroling and thankfully I got the nerve up to go with a church group to carol at some retirement homes and shut-ins in December.  The nerve came from not being a church member so it was quite possible I would not know anybody that was going to be caroling.  The other factor that caused concern was my lack of knowledge of musical notes.  I find myself singing sometimes in Key West and other times in Key Largo.   Needless to say the event was invigorating.   I got to know three folks while driving from site to site and the response from the recipients was priceless.  I bet you have many stories like this yourself.

Here is some constructive research if we are compelled to improve in 2026.  If you Google – salt meaning in the Bible and go to “Flavor & Influence: Jesus calls followers “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) implying they should bring flavor, wisdom, and moral preserving influence to society, preventing corruption.”

Repeating a line I hear often is, I just want to improve 1% today.  I believe helping others by getting the most out of our own attributes brings happiness to all.

 All this chatter has given me incentive.  As I have a tendency to use food in many of my illustrations, I am going to stop being a Lazy Susan and twirl that whirling cabinet until Vanna  says “S.”    Ah, let me do this right.   Even though my brain is contemplating several excuses,  I am spurred on by Teddy Roosevelt’s speech, “The Man in the Arena.”

  As my noggin reverberates, “Use what has been given to you,” I am moving on to the G’s.  Garlic Salt please.

You keep eyeing that machine you want to get on at the “Y” as it seems the current occupant thinks they signed up for an hour time slot for a 5 minute exercise.  Then some turkey who talks too much (my wife is quite familiar with such a guy) asks me a question and when I turn his way to answer someone else jumps on the now open apparatus I have been waiting on for several minutes.  Patience fella! Remember, you are- retired!  Sorry for unloading on y’all.  I feel better now.

Being watchful can mean so many things.

To a child it can mean-

Looking out for Santa as there are no presents under the tree yet

Continually shouting at your sister to not be so rough with Your Toy

Counting down the days til your birthday

Do we have enough new snow for the superintendent to close school

How many school days left until summer vacation (is there a pattern occurring?)

When does the oven timer go off on Mom’s chocolate chip cookies

To an adult it can mean-

When will that coffee maker finish brewing! It never takes this long!   Hags, focus on the pretty sunrise.

Watching your child or grandchild in a performance and they desperately yearn for your approval

Waiting on a phone alert that an airline ticket price has dropped or the stock you want finally hit your buy window

Straining to see the game clock to run out as your Steelers have a narrow lead but your defense leaks like a sieve

Will your boss finally give you the promotion and raise you have worked your tail off for the last 24 months

When does the oven timer go off on my Wife’s raisin molasses cookies

All of the above can be important to the individual in the physical sense but I reached out to my understaffed research department to encompass all avenues.  “Google” includes such words in its definition of watchful as “vigilance, attentiveness, readiness/preparedness, discernment and self-examination.”   Since I have unlimited experience in bad habits I thought I would chime in with the following take. Discipline is a lifelong personal trait that I long for but it is continually taking additional vacation days.  I do know that every day I am faced with free will and the option of choosing right from wrong and dissecting if what I am being told is true or not.  So now that I survey the data I realize how important it is to stay alert and eclipse AI by doing my own discerning.  Being tempted and deceived is not only true of Internet scams but of many other initially attractive opportunities that come our way.  We need to be watchful.

To stay up to date, another way to look at is a play on the word.  My (smart) watch is full.  This can simply mean I need to free up storage on my device.  The translation to me is get rid of all the clutter that is taking up too much of my valued time.  Discipline decided to punch in.

In getting back to this joyful time of year, the grandest watch party of them all occurred over 2000 years ago.  The three wise men were forever watchful of that special star that guided them to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus Christ.  It sure makes me want to pull out the Good Book for the rest of the story.

We have all been told at some point, if you are going to start something new, take baby steps.  I started memorizing some Bible verses.  This short one is easy to remember and its content incredibly powerful.

Colossians 4:2     Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Merry Christmas!

Picture this from back in the 1980’s.  This true story was actually told at a memorial service for a golfing buddy of mind held in 2010 in Charlotte.  You are a sales rep for a large computer company and most sales of main frames take six months or more to establish as a qualified opportunity and then close the deal.  You have a three-year guaranteed salary and the end of your second year is rapidly approaching.  Up until now your closes have been minimal and you are feeling the pressure of needing a big sale. You finally think you have one in the bag, at least that is what your main contact is telling you.   Your contact always accepts your lunch invites and he continues to stroke your confidence as much of his noontime conversation is laced with praise about your company’s hardware features.  You keep telling your regional sales manager this sale is assured and you will have the purchase order in a week.

The decision day comes and to your astonishment you did not get the PO. You are in shock and your supposed contact in the know apologizes that he did not realize there were some added features by the winner that your company did not propose.

How are you going to tell your boss? The bizarre thoughts that swirl through your mind when you’re under the gun. From, am I going to be fired or possibly transferred to another region.  I love the people that I work with and I pray I still get to work here.

You finally get up the nerve to go into his office and not only does he tell you a hilarious joke but to dump salt into your laceration all you can see on his walls are the individual and regional sales awards he has accumulated.  Once the small talk is over you spit out how you lost your supposed guaranteed sale. You now wait for the dreaded result from your failure.  It seemed as long as a commercial during an NFL game before the manager spoke.  He simply asked one question, “what did you learn?”

His response was so off guard to me that it took a moment to gather myself. What I learned was I need to be certain who all the decision makers are and to make sure I can meet their highest priority needs.  He acknowledged that and reinforced how important that is to a successful sale. That was the end of the discussion and I went out of that room more determined than ever to be a success.

So that begs the question as we start to close in on this calendar year. Whether you are 20 years old or 80 years young what have you learned this year?

I will share what I have gathered from some of my experiences in 2025.

I am continually reminded to be watchful for the magnificent beauty in this world.  This North Carolina beach scene in January combines an unexpected snow and a sunset.

Since being retired and now in my second year, this year has been more fulfilling since I got a part time job and feel like I am contributing to society and my self-worth.

On a Midwestern trip I learned how awesome the caves are at Mammoth Cave National Park and as we continued up to Minnesota and back down the Mississippi River how important barge transportation still is to this country.

College sports with its mega conferences, NIL money and the portal is just like a sequel to a great movie. Each version gets more diluted and my southern friends would simply label it as, “Y’all, there’s not enough sugar in this tea.”

How thankful I am that exercise has always been a part of my weekly routine which includes delightful friends that support each other.

Pumpkin carving at Halloween still gives me a tickle after all these years.

Veterans Day is just as meaningful today as it was when it was established in 1954.

Saying please, thank you and holding the door open as a courtesy for someone seems to be more appreciated this year.  Could that possibly be because it’s like the title of this blog?

My wife’s idea of teaching our grandchildren how to play hopscotch was genius.  It captivated them and rejuvenated us.

Each holiday becomes more cherished as I mature and I am so thankful to spend Thanksgiving with family and to be fortunate to have food on the table.

I hope we all strive to learn something new as each week goes by as if you really think about it, it is one of the natural highs in life.

One last unforeseen event happened to me earlier this year.  Our son mentioned to us this week day reading he is now doing from Talbot Davis, the pastor at Good Shepard Church in Charlotte, called Come Alive Daily.  Talbot starts his 5 minute reading with a mini pep talk, using two phrases often that I love.  “ You are taking a MASSIVELY SMALL STEP in your living relationship with Jesus Christ” and “you have chosen to start your day with the Word over the world.”  From my early days of reading the morning newspaper, then on my phone,  til earlier this year, my day Always started with checking the Sports Page scores, and possibly the news headlines. It does not now.  If you are looking to be nourished with peace and confidence to start your day, I know I am more alive after this morning routine.

I hope your bulb is glowing.

A series of essays on encouragement with the forgotten insight, common sense. Personal life experiences over 69 years that range from Listening to Grandpa to the Eternal Shine for your Dancing Shoes. A career in sales has afforded me ample opportunities to engage in human interaction. My fondness for people, food and sports routinely emerge to connect you to a point. Sprinkled by my love for family and this country I discuss varying topics with my compass being the Good Book.

Order on Amazon, go to Books, type in Hagshuddle and the electronic Kindle version and the Paperback are available.

From a Halloween Costume to Thanksgiving Day

Maybe it is a guy thing or it might just be a me thing.  I am peering into the pantry for an ingredient for a recipe.  I exhaust all shelves searching but honestly I could have been distracted by the container of dark chocolate peanut butter cups that I did not know we had.  I later realize the ingredient was in the pantry but I had a totally different vision of what it was suppose to look like.  This is my feeble attempt in revealing I have tendencies. 

So the story begins in September when my wife points out to me a flyer that came in the mail explaining the need for Poll Observers at the upcoming November Election.  I immediately have interest as the last presidential election made no sense to me as where all the votes mysteriously showed up from in the middle of the night.

After going through three training sessions I sign up for observing at Absentee Vote counting at the courthouse, Early Voting for three shifts and two shifts on Election Day.  My sole focus is to do my part in making sure only registered voters with the proper ID vote.

The locations I am observing for Early Voting and Election Day Voting are not areas I normally frequent.  I find a common denominator that my initial reception is chilly but with my blinders on I am determined to hold my ground.  I could tell when I put on my observer name tag with party affiliation I was truly outnumbered.  I love people though and since I was going to be at each location for several hours I decided within the observing rules to at least show a few Halloween pictures and before the site officially opened, to ask the Chief Judge and other election workers about their Halloween experiences and also about their families.  I notice a faint grin or two when a Wendy’s cheeseburger homemade costume our daughter and I made comes up on my screen.  Anything to change the vibe in the room.

As the tabulator tape showed “0” and the doors were officially opened, I immediately pulled out my rigorous binder with highlighted points to check on during each shift.   I must confess a lifelong struggle of mine has been the battle of fixation on my objective while actually still breathing and generating somewhat of a pleasant look on my face.  I continued during the first hour in listening to the check in process which is where a proper ID is presented and the voter announces their address.  As time wore on I became aware of how the Chief Judge / Site Supervisors run their election sites with a sense of pride in not only following the rules but in being efficient to help the voter have a pleasing experience.  I also met many fine election workers who put in a tremendous amount of hours for minimal pay.

Bottom line is my poll observing experience was extremely rewarding.  You will never guess that to my surprise, the gratifying takeaway was, I met some really cool people.  There was the observer with six children that the only thing we did not seem to have in common was our political party.  Great guy who seemed interested in what I had to say and I was so impressed with the work ethic he and his wife instilled in their children.  Then there was this election worker who not only did her job at the tabulator but when there was a slowdown, she was sweeping the floor.  I saw her at two different locations and you just felt good being around her.  Lastly, I will never forget the hug I received from the Chief Judge at a site I worked in High Point, NC.  It was important to her that all workers were recognized and appreciated.

What dawned on me was I got to experience an authentic play depicting exactly what Jonathan Robbins’ message was from Summit Church in Kernersville, NC in his last of a three part series called “Allegiance.”  “This election is important and no matter who you vote for we all need to walk away from the result with one key thought.  Love thy neighbor.”

My only regret is not getting contact information from some of those that I made a personal connection. I catalogued two smiles though and I hope we will meet again.  Thankful for my experiences, I hope to grow from them.  My remote on Thanksgiving has a history of being focused on parades and football in Detroit and Dallas.  It is important to me to take time for acknowledging people that have made my fall days brighter when it could have been a confrontational, tense time.

Of course I must also translate this lesson into the area of my palate.   As I savor in my mind the delicious gravy, turkey, and stuffing that fortunately will be available later this week I take a moment.  Holy smokes!  I almost missed my younger sister’s cranberry relish!

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