Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

I thought I would drop you a line today, as they used to say. I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while. You know how it is. Sometimes life just gets in the way. For some reason that statement made me think about sitting in Grandpa and Grandma’s backyard in Tennessee. We were just sitting around talking, shucking peas or stripping the husks off corn. They were monotonous tasks and our conversations, from what I remember, were never that deep either. For some reason back then, life just didn’t get in the way like it does now. And we are retired! - ha! Of course, that brings it’s own challenges – like remembering what day it is or figuring out when to plan your afternoon nap!

Hand with a pen and lined paper with Dear Mom already written

I tell you, Mom, I don’t miss the grind but I do miss the leadership roles. I always enjoyed building the teams and processes. The end results were great to look at, but the people development and the times I was in a place to actually build out everything from scratch was soooo much fun! I do still work a couple of days per week though for one of the big retailers and I would be hard pressed to ever lead in that environment again!

These companies redefine the metrics for success more often than the CEO changes his underwear (but not more often than he checks his bank account)! Then they tie everyone’s hands behind their backs with top-down “best practices.” Of course, the best practices are really not that at all, creating inefficiencies galore while removing all of the fun and creativity from the workplace. The career paths are disappearing and there is no joy anywhere. However, they are all diverse and politically correct while providing less service and tracking every move their customers make. Remember how they told us the computerized software would make everything faster? That was a bunch of baloney. All these computerized systems have done is allow everyone to collect your personal data with the hope of being able to influence your decisions. Now we have this beast called AI looming on the horizon and that is going to be another monster we will all regret. Just my two cents worth, Mom, but nobody really is asking me – ha!

How are you and Pete doing up there? We really miss you guys! You have a few new great grand-children and another one on the way! Most of us kids are either retired or heading that way. It doesn’t seem like we could be at the point but I guess we are. Those grays, silvers, and whites in our hair kinda are dead giveaways! I haven’t seen bro in a while but talk to him about once a week. I know they are about to pull the plug on their working days, too. I hope they enjoy it! We are planning a trip to Georgia later in the year to see Rhonda, Greg, and Mel. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone and wish you could join us! Tell Pete we will lift a toast or two to him and Dave! We will take a few pictures while we are there but it really is just about getting together again. We will throw the pics in the mail when we get back but they take a while to get to you. You know life gets in the way.

I still regret how much time we lost before you left here. Those nearly two years when we couldn’t spend much time with you and often had to do so wearing masks and gloves - like we were in scenes from a Science Fiction movie. They not only kept families from seeing each other, they destroyed the economy. It all made no sense to a lot of us while it was going on but what we could we do? After all, everyone just had to do what Fauci said. It doesn’t matter much now but that Little Weasel is starting to catch some heat and it is Must See TV!

I hope the Good Lord has a special place in Hell reserved for that little man! I pray that his lock-downs and uselessness haven’t cast an inescapable net over our world. Between their missteps and the AI stuff, it is easy to start feeling like you are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone! I wish you were closer so we could hash it all together because we, of course, could fix the world! - lol. If you think about it, though, put in a good word for all of us! I have a feeling we are going to need all of the help we can get.

Well, I probably better sign off now. I need to get that afternoon nap in before the Diamondback game this afternoon – ha! They are playing some good ball this year! I wish you guys were here to catch a game with us! Never to worry, though, every time something good happens I can still see you jumping up and down in the middle of the room :). You and Pete could cheer them on better than anyone! The NFL preseason kicks off tonight, too. Colleen is thrilled – ha!

Mom, by the way, Happy Birthday! I hope you both have gotten adjusted to those angel wings.

We love you guys and we miss ya!

Kev