The Space Between The Waves

Meanwhile, somewhere along the way in life, I came to a realization…one that doesn’t usually show up early, but sure makes a difference when it finally does. The key to happiness isn’t what others think about you…it’s how you feel about yourself. I remember a time when I’d measure everything by outside noise, opinions, approval, expectations. Like standing on a dock waiting for someone else to tel...

Meanwhile, I’ve come to believe that everything we do, and everyone we meet, finds its way into our lives for a reason. Not by accident, not by chance…just part of a bigger picture we don’t always see in the moment. I remember sitting at a quiet little marina one afternoon, watching boats come and go, when a conversation started with a complete stranger. Nothing planned, nothing expected…just a si...

Meanwhile, what if we all had a coin to flip each morning? One side says “Be Miserable,” the other says “Be Happy.” You wake up, flip it, and whatever it lands on, that’s your day. Sounds ridiculous, right? But the funny thing is, a lot of people are already living that way…they just don’t realize it. I was sitting at a little café spot once, watching people come and go. Same sunshine, same breeze...

Meanwhile, there’s this thing people do…could be former employees, friends, or even family…that always gets under my skin. That idea that something is “impossible.” Truth is, most things only feel impossible right up until the moment somebody goes and does it. There are struggles in life that can seem overwhelming, no doubt about it. Situations we walk ourselves right into, and then convince ourse...

Meanwhile, there are times when the world just doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense… like everything’s spinning a little faster than it should. You ever notice how some people seem to cut corners, bend the truth, or fake their way through things… and still come out ahead? Yeah… it happens. But here’s the part you don’t always see… it’s never enough. There’s always something else they’re chasi...

Meanwhile, the highway signs above flash, “WARNING EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED”… and I can’t help but smile, like that’s not already part of the plan. Because that’s where curiosity takes over… where you start connecting dots you didn’t even know you were collecting. Just around the next bend, the sky changes, the road stretches out a little different, and somehow it all lines up, the sunlight, the mome...

Meanwhile, there are things you keep that mean nothing to anyone but you… could be big, could be small… sometimes it’s just a memory. Hanging on a rusty nail, changed by the passing years, through warm summers and cold winters, it just stays there… quiet… as a reminder of days that once felt endless. Most folks who’ve been to the Tiki Bar walk right past it without a second glance. Just a label th...

Meanwhile, one of the last pieces of advice my dad ever gave me wasn’t some long speech… it was simple, almost like a quiet clue, “Take care of yourself.” It caught me off guard, because we always ended our calls the same way… “I love you.” I remember exactly where I was that morning… what I was doing… caught up in the corporate world, busy, distracted… and honestly, far away from where I should’v...

Goooooood Morning Everybody Happy Tuesday, rise and shine. Meanwhile, she sat in the living room as the morning sun spilled across the floor, soaking it in like a hummingbird in still air, a suitcase resting quietly by her side. One last look around, not at what she had done, but at all the things she kept putting off. Funny how life can feel like a fast ride, she thought, always moving, rarely pa...

Meanwhile, it’s easy to get caught up in the stories we tell ourselves… the ones that feel real simply because we’ve thought them over and over again. But not everything that feels true actually is. She sits at a little corner café just outside the busy tourist streets, watching the world move by. Life happening in real time all around her, yet her thoughts drift in and out like waves, trying to m...

Meanwhile, musicians are funny creatures… driven by the love of the music and the excitement of that next song, the one that just might change everything. Maybe it finds its way into a movie, maybe it becomes a song that helps someone through something… maybe. Let’s face it, it’s true what they say… a musician will drive 200 miles in a van with $2,000 worth of equipment for a $150 gig. I know plen...

Meanwhile, funny thing about cycles… one day, the things that once bothered you the most don’t even cross your mind anymore. Down at Chix on the Beach, Kim is working her magic in the kitchen, serving up She Crab Soup and snow crab legs like it’s just another day in paradise. I’ve always loved the history of that stretch of sand, where the old Sun-N-Fun Bathhouse Grill once stood back in the 1950s...

Meanwhile, when I was a young boy, our family would make the trip to Myrtle Beach to spend a week soaking up the summer sun. My mother’s love for the beach found its way into me early on. As the years went by, I started to explore more on my own, a little spending cash in my pocket and the freedom to wander. Built in 1954 during the height of the beach boom, Sea Mist Beach Resort felt like everyth...

Meanwhile, when I was a young boy, our family would make the trip to Myrtle Beach to spend a week soaking up the summer sun. My mother’s love for the beach found its way into me early on. As the years went by, I started to explore more on my own, a little spending cash in my pocket and the freedom to wander. Built in 1954 during the height of the beach boom, Sea Mist Beach Resort felt like everyth...

Meanwhile, there’s something about a chilly morning on the road that makes a warm cup in your hands feel like more than just a drink… it feels like a moment. Funny how something so simple can become part of your rhythm, something you didn’t need once, but now you wouldn’t go without. Across the room, someone sits quietly with their tea, content in their own routine, reminding us that not everyone...

“being a little salty goes with the territory,” he said, sitting at the Original Oyster House in Spanish Fort, out along the low-lying Mobile Bay Causeway… a place well worth the stop if you’ve got time to just chill. Now in that setting, “salty” means you’re enjoying some of the best oysters this side of Gulf Shores… maybe even New Orleans, depending on who you ask. There was a time I spent a cou...

In the midst of the world going a little crazy, it’s the small things that still have a way of making you smile. You just have to slow down enough to notice them. I was standing in line not too long ago, half paying attention, when someone quietly paid for the person behind them and walked out like it was nothing. No announcement, no credit… just a simple act. And just like that, you could feel th...

Meanwhile, there’s a small word that carries more weight than most people realize… “no.” Somewhere along the way, we were taught it’s a bad thing, that it disappoints people or makes us miss out. So we say “yes”… even when we don’t mean it. But the truth is, saying “no” isn’t rejection… it’s direction. Every time you say “yes” to something that doesn’t feel right, you’re quietly saying “no” to som...

As a traveling man, I learned early on that the faces and places along the way start to feel like chapters of your life. Even though there’s probably a mailbox somewhere with your name on it, these little pockets of the world somehow feel more like home. I rolled the window down crossing over the Corey Causeway, the breeze carrying that mix of salt air and sunshine as sailboats drifted across the...

The magic of winning can be a long road, and more often than not, it’s defined by what winning means to you… not what it looks like to everyone else, and that part matters more than most realize. Out on the edge of a quiet marina, just after sunrise, there’s a guy most mornings working on his boat long before anyone else shows up. No crowd, no applause, just the sound of tools clinking and water t...

She grew up on a tiny island with her grandmother, who opened a little café and named it one evening while watching the sunset over a glass of red wine with friends… “Something with class,” she said. Now her granddaughter carries on the smiles. When the door opens, it’s announced by the soft jingle of a bell above it, a simple sound that somehow makes the whole place feel like home, followed by he...

One of my favorite things to do is drift down to the beach early in the morning and take a long walk along the shoreline. You know the routine… finding that perfect little spot where you’ll set up camp for the day. The smell of suntan lotion already floating in the breeze, the sound of the waves rolling in and slowly creeping their way up the sugar-white sand. There’s an old saying that you never...

Spring has sprung once again, another season quietly changing places on the calendar, and somehow the passages of time seem to show up in mysterious ways. One minute you're going about your routine and the next thing you know you stop and think… wait a minute, has it been a year… or five… or even ten? Funny how that happens. Sometimes it sneaks up on you when you're cleaning out a spare room, digg...

Sometimes we could all use a small vacation of our own… one where you quietly disappear from the road and the changes that seem to roll in on cue every single day. There are many lazy beach towns like Laguna Beach. I’ve spent more than a few quiet days there in silence, just listening to the rhythm of the Gulf and letting the noise fade away. With a short walk in the early morning light, you can f...

The old man sat in the corner booth of the Sea Side Coffee Shop, sipping black coffee in the standing-room-only little café. One by one the line grew shorter, everyone grabbing their cup of sunshine to go, while he stayed put… writing something on a napkin. It was a long trip home to The Tiki Bar that morning. I was in a hurry to go, but not in a hurry to get going. Some days are just like that. I...