In a discussion about a good friend's son last week, I was struck by the similarities of our upbringings.

The son - now in his late-twenties - struggles to find his place in the world.

He's drifting.

No direction.

No purpose.

No ambition.

Unsure of what, if anything, he hopes to achieve and painfully unaware of how quickly our days on this earth pass…

Facebook Memories is the best feature.

It keeps me honest.

Like a good friend or mentor, it calls me on my bullshit and helps keep me from repeating mistakes.

One example - every spring for about a week, the leading photo in my memories is one of several where I'm half naked and flexing. From the strained-not-strained smile, I'm trying to look as if I'm just casually standing there…

I know a lot of happy people.

But I also know a lot of miserable people.

You probably do, too. As I mentioned last week, in a recent survey, 67% of those asked reported being generally dissatisfied with their lives.

I've been thinking a lot about what the dissatisfied people I know have in common…

In Maui last week, I'd just gotten back from a run.

One of the guys commented that "he didn't like to run."

And he was surprised, I think, when I said, "Me neither!"

Like, here I am, the guy who's trying like hell to get to a place where I can do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it, and I'm out doing something I don't want to do.

Of course, "me neither" doesn't fully encompass how I feel about running…

Today is my last full day in Maui, and I aim to make the most of it. Here shortly, I'll hook up with Wave Daddy again for a "Surf Safari."

We're heading to the island's north side, where the waves are bigger and, hopefully, there are still no tiger sharks.

For now, though, I'm thinking about all there is to do when I get home…

In my typical fashion, I rolled into the surf shop all hot and cocky, laying it on thick about how I expected to be pro by the end of the day.

I told the girl who took my waiver to consider keeping it; my autograph would be valuable here shortly.

"Where's my film crew?" I asked the person storing my stuff.

And when my instructor, "Wave Daddy," took me to get a board, I told him straight that I was ready for Burkhart's board.

But, while I was talking all this smack, I was secretly preparing to eat sand all morning since that had been my experience the only other time I'd tried to surf back in North Carolina.

And I was a little worried about Tiger Sharks…

For as long as I can remember, I've ushered in the Christmas Season by watching - and usually falling asleep during - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

It started with VHS.

Then DVD.

And now I have a digital copy, thanks to Apple TV.

I know most of the lines by heart and quote them often…

I will always remember Gary and Enid.

Not just because they are pretty great folks, but because when I helped them buy a house years ago, it took for-freaking-ever.

I don't remember how many we looked at, but I'm sure it was more than any other client I've ever worked with.

Fifty maybe?

Possibly more…

When I pulled into the hunt camp the night before opening day, Mike was already relaxing beside his new camper.

Where I'd opted for the Super Pacific X1, a truck-mounted wedge camper, Mike went with a ROG Adventure Trailer that he could pull behind his truck.

He'd not seen my rig, nor had I seen his, so we spent a lot of time between hunts checking out each other's setup…

It's 4:37 A.M., and I can't post this yet.

Not to my blog.

Nor Facebook.

Nor my email list.

Because there is no WiFi here…

We were soaking in the pool when Granny returned from the store, and she was not the least happy about it.

We should have been tending to the chores.

The strawberries needed weeding, and the buckets of feathers from the relentless passing of the chicken trucks should have been picked up by now.

But it wasn't so much that we'd chosen the pool over the chores.

It was that we didn't have a pool to begin with…

100% grass-fed.

Organic.

Whole.

That's how I typically buy our milk.

When I was in Arizona a few weeks ago, the folks back home ran out of milk, and one of the Teenagers ran to the local store to pick some up.

I stopped at our regular grocery store on the way. . .

With Jack choosing to drop out here in his senior year of high school and move to his dad's house, I've put some stipulations on the move.

Among them, Jack has two weeks from when he decided - 13 days from today - to get packed and move.

Some would disagree with me there; that's fine. For my part, I'm intent on keeping my house in order. I won't allow this unscheduled interruption to drag on for weeks, disrupt our Thanksgiving celebration, or become a fiasco.

He's taken the proverbial shit. . .

In business, there comes a point where you have to delegate. A natural-born control freak, this has never come easy.

Despite having very talented folks on my team, I often struggle to hand over the reins.

Even when I know someone else is fully capable of the task, I sometimes still won't hand it off and find myself buried when I should focus on another task…

The grand opening won't be until the spring, but we'll finally have the new clinic doors open in January.

Yes, it's taken much longer than we expected (that's a whole other story), but as we prepare, we've started interviewing nurses.

Here's something I didn't know - the pay scale for nurses is all over the board…

In 2009, when I was flat broke, I had an idea.

Be cheaper!

I wasn't making any money selling houses (nor was anybody else), and I was chewing on the idea of cutting my prices to get more clients.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea.

After a few weeks, it seemed not just a good way but the only way to solve my problem.

Lower prices would undoubtedly have the clients rolling in droves.

Convinced this was the answer, I started thinking of all the other problems it would solve…

My "current situation," as I write this, is a crackling fire in my backyard with a dog and cat sitting beside me, watching the flames.

I am here to tell you the morning fire is THE BEST!

But my three-weeks-from-now situation will be a beach in Maui looking over the North Pacific and wondering if the surf instructor will be any good…

My family are not "preppers" in the most common sense of the word.

Indeed, most who identify as such would find us woefully unprepared.

We are, however, more prepared for disaster than most people who don't subscribe to the identity…

Dear Jack,

I love you.

The relationship between a father and his son is fraught with complications, doubly so between a stepfather and his son.

When I committed to raising you as my own, I did not expect it would be easy.

Nor did I expect it would be so damn hard.

Decades ago, I thought I was a gym rat, but I was really a gym hamster.

Every day, I'd head to the gym to do the same damn thing I did the day before.

Sure, there was a slight variance.

Monday was back and biceps.

Tuesday was chest and triceps.

Wednesday was leg day (which, more often than not, was skip day).

But it was still like being on a wheel in a cage.

Same shit, different day.

And I hated it…