I looked at my Dad across the kitchen table.  Breathing tubes wrap around his face and the sound of air bursts every few seconds as an air compressor pushes oxygen through the tube.  We just spent a few hours talking about politics, the decay of our neighborhood and how washing machines just aren't worth repairing any more.  I relished these mundane topics and these times with him because I knew there were precious few remaining.

I thought about asking him the next question over the last few months.  A question about my ancestry.  About our relationship.  THE question.  I got a little nervous as the words swam around in my head like letters floating in alphabet soup.  The kitchen table seemed to stretch between us.  It is time. 

The Cliffhanger

Have you ever read a Dan Brown novel?  Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Inferno.  He is a modern master of the cliffhanger.  Every chapter ends in a mini cliffhanger so you...

I heard my name and applause from 450 people.  The moment has arrived.  I smile broadly, walk to the edge of the stage.  Pick up the gizmo that flips slides.  I walk up the four steps marked with red tape on their edges….and take a long deep breathe.  I wait at the back corner of the stage until the audience quiets down until you could hear a whisper.  PAUSE.  I take one step forward…

It's not every day that we get an opportunity to speak to a crowd, to share our wisdom.  It's exciting.  It gets your blood flowing.  Your endorphins pumped.   Most importantly, addressing people from stage is a privilege.   An opportunity to spend one hour to change a life….maybe in a big way.  Maybe in a subtle way.  Either way, we serve.

This story, though, is about the journey before that first step on the stage.  It's about the hour and a half before.

Before any big speaking engagement, I get...