Embellish or...

never let the truth get in the way of a good story. My late maternal grandfather was an epic, epic storyteller. By story, I don't mean lies, but stories from his childhood and his life. They were amazing but as I grew older and heard him retell them, sometimes details would change. Whether it was intentional or not, he was embellishing his stories. Embellished or not, they made for great yarns and memories that I cherish to this day.

We are probably all a bit guilty or embellishing the truth to make for a better story, and in some cases, the embellishing turns to outright lying. It's a slippery slope, I suppose.  It starts with the bold but laughable response of child standing in a puddle of spilled milk, saying "I didn't do it," when asked who spilled it. Then it's "the dog I ate my homework." And suddenly, you're Lindsay Lohan, saying it's an ear infection (ha!) that prevented you from working or you're Kim Kardashian saying, with a straight face mind you, "Oh no it's not about the money. I'm doing this for love." Or you are Lance Armstrong, proclaiming with all the righteous indignation (read here for a perspective on Lance and his copping indignation) in the world that you never doped. Never. Ever.

We are on the eve of the disgraced athlete's televised appearance before this century's Mother Confessor, Oprah. Someone recently Tweeted that you don't go on Oprah to confess, you go on Oprah to ask forgiveness (in another post we should probably delve into how insane that is) and Lance has calculated (as he has done with all things) that Mother Oprah may be his best shot at some hope of redemption. How sad this all is and I'm not talking about Oprah. How sad it is to see what a lie, albeit a huge one, has done. How many lives (paging Floyd Landis) have been destroyed by this maniacal dedication to deceit? How sad it is that about the only good thing to come of this, the Livestrong Foundation, will face declining donations and a cloud of suspicion as a result of the actions of its founder. My hope is that people who had donated to Livestrong in the past or had planned to will continue to do so and if they choose not to that they will choose another organization. Don't let Lance's carnival of lies impact your desire to donate to something good.

Lance will have to live with himself over this but outwardly, it appears he's been pretty cool with the situation for awhile. That's sad too. If only he'd just told the truth, it would have been so much easier. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" made the Top 10. There's a reason for that.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story - it's probably time to rethink that.

Impossible

Clearly, this won't end well

After a taxing first full week back to work (hence my week-long absence from the Den), Friday night could not come soon enough for the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and me. That could only mean a long-delayed and most welcome date night.

We had dinner at a small Italian place in town. As we were catching a 730PM movie, we got there before the dinner rush.  When I say small, I mean maybe twelve tables and when we got there, one, count 'em, one table was occupied. The waitress/hostess/busboy grabbed her clipboard and asked if we had a reservation. She was kidding, right? After a few minutes of internal debate, she gave us our choice of two tables. Dinner was fine, not a home run by any stretch but the company, being with my wife, was great.

From there, it was off to the movies. Nothing says 'Let's take a load off!' by watching a gripping, terrifying, and stunning unbelievably true story of survival from the massively destructive tsunami that wreaked utter destruction throughout southeast Asia in December 2004. We saw "The Impossible." It is gut-wrenching. It is raw. It will leave you worn out and it's worth every minute you spend watching it.

I'm not kidding. Since you know the deadly wave is coming, you are braced for its arrival and once it does, you do not relax until the final scene. This is a powerful film and I don't say that simply because of how it captures nature's incredible fury. The human emotion is just as powerful, if not more so. It will make you think. It will make you count your blessings.

After we collected ourselves at the film's end and found the strength to get up, we walked to the car quietly contemplating what we'd just seen. The family's survival truly was impossible, given what they faced. As we drove home, we questioned some of the choices the characters had made and wondered what we might have done in the face of, and I'll say it again, impossible odds. Our conclusion, made from the warmth of our ecologically offensive four-wheel drive, as we drove home on the rainy road, was that we'd never let go. To do otherwise would be impossible.

This family of mine is far from perfect. We've got opportunity to improve each and every day and while there is no magic formula, although we've found tremendous peace and guidance here, we've managed to hold on, to not let go. It is something I do not take for granted. And now, with our first grandchild - a BOY (read here for the official word from his parents) - on the way, never letting go is all the more important.

Whether the wave is real or metaphorical, I'm not letting go.

Nostalgia: Dynamite

The Bionic Woman on the cover the month I turned 10

Perhaps it's the rapid advance of time or the ever-present reminder that I'm getting older or maybe it's just the dawn of a new year that has had me feeling a bit nostalgic this week.

Out of nowhere as I was experiencing a wave of nostalgia, a flurry of images raced through my head, each one more powerful than the next in its celebration of the awful that was the 1970's. Each one of those images came from the same place. They were covers from "Dynamite" magazine.

Please, please, please tell me you remember this monthly love letter to pop culture disguised as educational material since it was shilled sold by Scholastic. That's right, you could order it straight from your teacher or you could get a subscription. I was one of those who had a subscription. It was my direct link to pop culture.  Each month, I waited by the mailbox to see what it would bring. Who would be on the cover? 'Please let it be one of the foxes (yes, I said it, foxes) from Charlie's Angels!' was a common prayer I uttered at the mailbox. What one of the "Bummers" would I agree with? This stuff was awesome.  At least that's the way it seemed when I was 10 and 11.

Like so many things in pop culture, the 'Dynamite' star seemed to fade away as quickly as it burst into my world. Turns out, this thing was published for 18 years - from 1974 to 1992. I had no idea. I have no idea to this day how it stayed relevant for that long. What other magazine could get away with cheesy headlines like this: 'The Invisible Man - TV's Most Outtasite Character!' I so wish I'd made that up, but that was a real one.

Now my magazine reading (Fast Company, Mental Floss, Al Jazeera) is mostly done on my iPad and it's brilliant visual interactive experience.  But I'm not waiting breathlessly by the mailbox anymore to see what surprises 'Dynamite' would bring. Simpler times...sometimes, just sometimes, I miss that.

2013:Let's Go

It's 1 January. Another year begins. It's time to make resolutions that, now let's face it, will not come to fruition. For example and a bad one at that, I still have the extra 25 pounds on me that I swore six ways 'til Sunday were coming off last year. If it kills me, those are coming off this year. I'm serious. I'm starting to look like I've had one, two, or fifteen too many cinnamon rolls this year. Curse you, holiday baking! Also, the fact that I need to wear a bro again as I get back into my running routine is more than a little disturbing.

So as far as resolutions go, it's pretty simple:

• Lose the manboobs
• Start running consistently again
• See first entry on list
• Tell the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML that I love her each and every day
• Come to terms with the fact that I'm going to be a grandfather this year
• See first entry on list (I clearly have concerns about the bro, do I not? I suppose this is what happens when you don't roll out of bed until after 9AM on New Year's Day and you get a view of yourself in the bathroom mirror that is both shocking and laughable at the same time.)

So, 2013, let's go. Let's get on with this new year. Let's make it challenging, let's make it great, let's go!