This month Wanda Kubat-Nerdin and Kathy Streib are hosting the February ActiveRain Challenge "Dream Boards: What's On Your Wish List?" For this challenge Wanda and Kathy are challenging us to create a vision/dream board meaningful to us by using photos that represent our visions and dreams.
For me a dream/vision board not only represents my visions and dreams, but also what is most precious in my life. Below is my vision/dream board which represents some of these things.
The first precious thing in my life is God, so the church I attend plays a very 
important roll in my life. Being active in a church keeps me grounded and focused. I have attend the Meriden Church of Christ in Meriden, CT., since 1984, and in those 39+ years the Meriden Church of Christ has looked for ways to assist our members and community throughout the year. This is a sharing, caring, giving church, that is grounded on the message of the New Testament. Every blessing in my life I credit it to God. I don't have everything I want, but I have everything I need. There isn't an obstacle I have encountered that I have not been to overcome. With the help of God, and putting my trust in Him, there is nothing I cannot overcome. Being a part of this church has helped to keep me focused on what is truly important, and staying on the path I need to be on.
The second precious thing in my life is my gorgeous granddaughter Elizabeth, 
God has truly blessed me and my wife with this little girl in our lives. It is a joy to be around her. She has the most positive attitude and outlook on life than anyone I know. She is smart and always has a smile on her face. She is 3,000 miles away from us, but we FaceTime every Sunday for about an hour and a half. She loves to talk, and share everything with us that is going on in her. FaceTime is not the same as being with her, but it far better than what my parents and in-laws had when my two boys were growing up. Our FaceTime calls would be much longer if she had it her way, but the 3 hour difference in time between the East Coast and the West Coast, make it difficult for these calls to fit both my son's and our schedule. Even though we are physically apart the ability to interact through FaceTime has been a blessing.
Golf has become my new love, and a great way for me to relax and take time 
away from the hussel and bussel of life. After 50 years since the last time I swung a golf club, I decided last year to take up golf once again. I have an excellent set of Ping golf clubs, but it is going to take a little more than these clubs to improve my game. I could make excuses for my game, and you might think my golf scores would stress me out in stead of relaxing me. But while I am working on lowering my score, I do not play golf for the scores, but for the enjoyment I get from playing the game. I only play 9 holes every Friday morning. 9 hole is enjoyable right now, and 18 holes feel too much like work. Maybe when I retire I will play a few more days a week, or even give 18 hole a try again, but for now 9 holes once a week does the trick. Maybe I can get Ed Silva and Carol Williams to give me some tips.
November of last year, Middletown, CT voters elected me the Republican Registrar 
of Voters. It is a part time position, which works well with me, since it enables me to continue to be a Loan Originator. I have always enjoyed being involved in politics, and have been a Head Moderator for over 20 years in Middletown. Being a Registrar of Voters is just taking it to the next level. Right now it is an exciting time to be a Registrar of Voters in CT. We are in the process of replacing our existing voting tabulators with new ones. At this time we are also replacing our Connecticut Voters Registration System (CVRS) as well as our Election Management System (EMS). I was a Head Moderator when we first made the switch from the lever voting machines to the current electronic tabulators. I was among the first to use our present Election Management System, and help to correct some of the initial bugs in it. This position is a 4 year term, and I am looking forward to helping to bring the voting process in Middletown into 21st Century.
Finally, my family is planing to all get together and having a family vacation this year. My one of my daughter in-
law's took a new position with the company she works for which required her and my youngest son to relocate to the Washington, DC area. They purchase a large 4 bedroom home in Manassas, VA, so they have plenty of room for all of us. My granddaughter has not been to Washington, DC yet, and the rest of us love everything there is to do in Washington and the surrounding areas. So we all started to plan a family vacation the 1st of the year, and are hoping my oldest son, his wife, and my gorgeous granddaughter can make the trip from Seattle, WA, to Manassas, VA this Summer. Manassas is only 500 miles away for me and my wife, so that is just a hop, skip, and a jump for us by car. We have all vacationed together before, but this would be the first time we will all vacation together under the same roof.
I will close my entry into Wanda Kubat-Nerdin and Kathy Streib ActiveRain Challenge by saying we have all heard the quote "Live Your Life To The Fullest". I would like recommend we add to this saying, we should not only live our lives to the fullest, but that "The Life We Live Needs To Be Stronger Than The Excuses We Make."
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