When I was in high school, we had to get a pass to leave class and walk in the hallway.  Need to use the bathroom?  Get a pass.  Spill something on your blouse?  Get a pass.  Cut your finger?  

Take a pass to the nurse’s office.

When I was a kid, my dad was really into photography.  He even had a darkroom for a while.  The cameras were all manual then, so you could really learn about how different settings changed the picture.

And one that made a big difference was the depth of field.

The streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of green marble and studded everywhere with sparkling emeralds.  They walked over a pavement of the same green marble, and where the blocks were joined together were rows of emeralds, set closely, and glittering in the brightness of the sun.  The window panes were of green glass; even the sky above the City had a green tint, and the rays of the sun were green.  –From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Wouldn’t you love to visit a place like the Emerald City of Oz where everything is shiny and green?  Would you like to even live there?

If there’s one thing that grows well in New England, it’s potholes.  The temperature fluctuates widely during the winter.  The road gets wet from snow, sleet, or rain.  It freezes and thaws.  And the moisture combined with the freezing and thawing creates a frost heave.

Which then turns into a pothole.

On December first I was headed to my Alexander lesson.  Only a few minutes away from Elizabeth’s house, I stopped at a 4-way stop sign.  Before I stopped, someone from my left turned left onto my street.  I looked again just before stopping.  The person on my left was going left, and went.  The person on my right was nowhere near the stop sign.  And the person straight ahead was going straight.  It was my turn to go, so I went.

And then I heard a crash.

Back in May, our family went sailing to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  It was on a gorgeous sailboat, from Newport Harbor in Newport, RI.  We left the dock with the motor, which helped Captain Dave navigate the boat more easily.  Once we were clear, the crew hoisted the sails, and off we went. 

Sort of.

Once upon a time there was a duck.  He lived in a pond with his brothers and sisters.  He swam all day.  It looked easy on the surface. 

But underneath the water the duck paddled and paddled and paddled.  Looking for food.  Exploring the nearby stream. 

When I woke up Monday morning, on our country's 240th birthday, I was thinking about our Founding Fathers. I thought about their ideals, their willingness to sacrifice, and their commitment through difficult times.

And I realized that I have embarked on a somewhat similar mission – though not anywhere near the scale of founding the USA. 

Opportunities aren’t always wrapped in pretty packages with a bow on them.  Or the packaging is beautiful, and disguises a “gift” fraught with obstacles.

Yet when we look deeper, we can find the opportunity buried deep within.

“Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown.”  Those words were spoken by Simon Sinek in his book Leaders Eat Last.

When I read this book, I cried.