{"id":1414,"date":"2012-08-19T11:25:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-19T15:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bobpaff.com\/?p=1414"},"modified":"2012-11-18T17:29:09","modified_gmt":"2012-11-18T22:29:09","slug":"june-was-a-reflective-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/?p=1414","title":{"rendered":"June Was A Reflective Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that we are in the dog days of summer<\/a>, right in the middle of the oppressive August humidity and just before school starts, I can reflect on June! Why June?\u00a0The month of June means many things for a lot of people. For most, it signals\u00a0the end of the school season and the official start of summer. For me, it’s\u00a0certainly those, plus just a bit more. For us dads, we know June includes\u00a0Father’s Day. For the Paff family, it also includes my birthday and my son\u00a0Taylor’s birthday. June is also the month during which we take our annual trip to\u00a0Isle of Palms, South Carolina<\/a>. Isle of Palms is just outside of Charleston, one of\u00a0my favorite cities in the world; great dining, great people, a ton of history, and\u00a0beaches nearby!<\/p>\n

But June 2012 had some even more special, if not somber moments. That same\u00a0son, Taylor, who turned 26 on June 22, moved to St. Croix just five days later,\u00a0the day before my 52nd birthday. My son Carter graduated from Boys’ Latin<\/a> on\u00a0June 2. And the most somber day of the month, June 25, marked the first\u00a0anniversary of my brother Bill’s death from cancer at age 54. June was a\u00a0reflective month! A time to remember all those childhood moments – the boys’,\u00a0mine and my brother’s. When did Taylor grow up to be able to move to such a\u00a0remote and foreign (albeit tropical) paradise? When did Carter turn into this\u00a0brash, young, high school graduate contemplating his college career? And how\u00a0and why did my brother pass at such a tender age, never to see his two children\u00a0grow old or his granddaughter graduate from preschool, high school or get\u00a0married.<\/p>\n

June was also the first full month I celebrated – yes, celebrated – my\u00a0independence as a newly divorced dad, contemplating my own future and\u00a0contribution to my children, community and the world. Feeling shot out of a\u00a0cannon, bursting at the seams with much to write and say, and with the loving\u00a0support of family and friends (even some ex-in-laws), I have much to do! You\u00a0see, when we reflect, in the privacy of our home or the sanctuary of our favorite\u00a0house of worship, we are able to see the forest through the trees, the meaning in\u00a0life’s simple pleasures, and the true reasons why we are here.<\/p>\n

Reflect and embrace, my friends. Calamity, adversity and misfortune happen to\u00a0all of us; pain does not discriminate based on socioeconomic status or religious\u00a0affiliation, and unfortunately, it knows no boundaries. For those who choose to\u00a0open themselves up to new possibilities and opportunities, the world is an\u00a0endless source of intrigue. Think about where you are, where you want to be,\u00a0and whom you want to be with. Then reflect and determine how you’ll get there!<\/p>\n

To Your Success!<\/p>\n

Bob Paff<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that we are in the dog days of summer, right in the middle of the oppressive August humidity and just before school starts, I can reflect on June! Why June?\u00a0The month of June means many things for a lot of people. For most, it signals\u00a0the end of the school season and the official start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-bobs-desk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1414"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions\/1512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}