Confidence is not easily acquired but once gained you can continue to embellish it and let the legend grow. For anyone who knows me, Bob Gibson is my hero and the greatest sports star ever born. I always talk about him and these quotes best sum up my thoughts.

"Hank Aaron told me never to mess with Bob Gibson," former Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "I was told never to stare at him, talk to, or smile at him. And if he hit you with a pitch, I was told never to charge the mound, because he would beat your ass. "I hated the All-Star Game," Gibson said years after retirement. "I hated having to talk to guys that I spent the rest of the season trying to kick their ass. They were the enemy to me." Gibson was a boxer before he played baseball. He knew what he was capable of and with that confidence, he could be a mentally free man and dominate his opponents.

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Any sign of retaliation was viewed as motivation for Bob.

Reflecting on 2024, confidence has finally remerged in my life. Ephesians 2:8-9 is my favorite passage from the bible. It reads " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourself, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.

So, if you add Gibson and God to my team, my odds of achieving are pretty good, and my confidence is there. Let us look back at the changes this past year (scrolling on by is optional). This past election was ugly. I did not post anything politically on Facebook as I offended some individuals the last go-round and got defriended. Being on the high road this go-round, watching others make that mistake is rewarding. We are hard to manipulate when you detach from the outcome, and we have much more in common than our differences. I'm forever an optimist and believe our best days are still to come.

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Turning 65 this past year was scary because that used to seem so old. You are reminded each day that you are not the center point as much as you used to be and often can be referred to as an old man. There are days when I feel blessed, however I'm reminded that bad days come along with the good. Lucky, in the sense that winning prizes has never been my thing, I am fortunate about the people I have met and the comradery we feel. I believe that iron sharpens iron so the harder I work the luckier I get.

One of my goals was to get a "citizenship award" from Wood River Mayor Tom Stalcup, but I would not accept it. Trash is often overlooked so I wanted to make a point. I don't live in Wood River, so my efforts, were part of the fun of the challenge. The award was a joke, but I intended to bring as much light to the trash issue as possible. What ended up is pretty amazing because although I have known the mayor my entire life, we hadn't reconnected for over 30 years. With my newfound confidence, I met with an old friend, laughed, worked together, and accomplished a few things. To me, that was worth more than any award.

A candle doesn't lose its light when you light another; your candle gets brighter. So, this year I often speak at board meetings on the trash issue, and I learned the appropriate time to embellish and let the legend grow. I read a phrase somewhere that "Faith in the future comes from what you have witnessed in the past", and I have witnessed some remarkable things this past year. If I could write it down and explain it, that would be easy, but there is no way.

Trust me when I say I'm not this smart, someone much wiser than me is pulling the strings. At some point, while finding my confidence this year, I worried about my character and being liked. My reputation was for being loud, boisterous, and bombastic. (I'm not sure I even know what those words mean but others viewed me that way.)

I read somewhere that your character is not your reputation, your character is who you are, and your reputation is who people think you are. Next, I looked up some character traits and found that a firm chest exudes character, and you get a firm chest doing push-ups. I do my push-ups daily now. . My confidence is what I take from 2024, I wish you the very best in 2025

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