Secrets Revealed

 

There are a few secrets you may not know about my Dennis. Until now.....

But first, most who know Dennis realize he is a very committed, dedicated and intense person. He is also energetic, animated (so dramatic 😝), and sensitive. 

He's an all or nothing kind of person, a "let's get it done" kind of person, with a "failure isn't an option" attitude!

He's a planner AND a procrastinator. His plans and dreams are immense, and his blueprints and work space to achieve those dreams are an "organized mess" which can be SO annoying to his wife who is also a planner, but likes "clean" organization. 😝

God gifted Dennis with leadership qualities. He is very successful in pretty much all of his endeavors. He can easily rally those around him in the situation he is in in order to accomplish his goals. He is also very tough on those same people, pushing them probably harder than they like in order to achieve the goals Dennis is reaching for. Most who know Dennis, know all of this to be true.

People who are successful usually don't get to that point or continue to be successful by chance. Even with natural leadership qualities, the behind the scenes grunt work is almost always never seen by others.  

            Hence....some secrets revealed about my dear hubby, Dennis 😲.....

Because he has such big plans and is so committed, dedicated, energetic, and intense with the failure isn't an option attitude, a little of the behind the scenes goes like this:

Coaching: 

    Whether it was try outs, practices, or games, Dennis occupied himself finding ways to be the best coach possible. He would watch you tube videos, read coaching articles, google  different practice skills, talk my ear off (as if I knew anything about coaching the sports he was coaching), and constantly texted and called his assistant coaches to bounce ideas off of them. He was non stop searching for ways to do better not only for his sake but mostly to help his players learn and be better! There were practices where he gloved up to be on the field or laced up his basketball shoes to participate in drills and plays on the court, and even ran with the cross country team and tried to keep up with the fastest runners trying to motivate them. Many times this resulted in him coming home limping some days or have to ice a pulled hamstring. But to him it was all worth it.  

    The day of basketball games Dennis would hand his assistant coach a crumpled piece of paper (his "organized mess".) On that paper was a schedule so to speak. They were the names of the players and at what time of the game that particular player was to be put into the game. Dennis spent a good amount of time the day before mapping out a way to allow a fair amount of time for each and every player to be in the game. He also stressed about finding a way to get as many of his players to score at least one basket or get a hit or to beat his best cross country run time. 

    The emotions he felt as a coach always were heart warming to me. Whether a win or a loss he always dissected what he could have done better as a coach to help his team keep doing what they do well and improve what needed improving. The game or the meet didn't end at the buzzer or the finish line for Dennis. He always took it home and looked for ways to be better as a coach to these kids and this effort NEVER stopped for the duration of that particular season. He treated the position he had as another full time job in spite of not being paid as it being a full time job.

Work:

    I'm not on the scene of Dennis' work environment, but I definitely experience the behind the scenes. 

    Work doesn't stop when Dennis walks in our door. He takes pride in doing the best job possible not just for his boss but for God. He pushes his people to go above and beyond but he also fights for his peeps. I don't think they will ever realize how hard he fights for them. He pushes for bonuses and raises for his people. He prays for those who work for him and really does care for them all. Dennis oversees the operations of 14 McDonalds restaurants. If one of his people are struggling in running operations, yes, Dennis will step in and push and ask that person questions as to why things aren't going as good as they should be and hold that person accountable. 

    What his people do not see is how the wheels in his head turn over and over to figure out a way to help his people be successful again in a situation like the one above. He never wants to see someone fail. He never wants to see a person leave the business. And when these things DO happen, he will step in and counsel to help try to find a way to make things better for all involved.

    The times someone does end up leaving, it hurts Dennis; not because it leaves him to have to fill another position but because Dennis wants to make sure that person truly made the right decision for his/her overall sake. And sometimes, multiple times, the people whom Dennis had to let walk away? They actually came back realizing the grass wasn't greener on the other side. 

    One of Dennis's love languages is receiving gifts. Words of affirmation is also up high on that love language list. For his birthday, his supervisors and managers all chipped in and presented Dennis with a brand new Peloton treadmill. I saw one of the the supervisor's FB post stating, "Today we surprised THE BEST boss ever." His people may not know but this really humbled Dennis. He called me and said he just couldn't believe they did that for him. He came home and was still in disbelief. 

Anyway. I could go on and on but I won't (I did that in another birthday blog post for him.)

I just wanted to share a little of the behind the scenes of a pretty spectacular, successful man. The outer shell of someone doesn't tell the whole story.

Happy Birthday to my hubby October 24, 2021 the day he turned 53!

     

    

    

Perspective

A little tale that came to me this morning, the day after Inauguration Day. 

Back in the day, a long time ago before the internet was invented there were these two young elementary aged girls who became pen pals through a church program. They wrote back and forth a couple of times a month for years and years and eventually became the best of friends. Even though they lived in very different environments, they had so much in common in their likes and dislikes and their belief in God bonded them.

 

Sometime down the road when they were both teen agers they decided they wanted to talk to each other to hear the other’s voice. So, they set up a time for at least twice a month where they would talk on the phone. Another one of the things these two girls had in common was that neither of them had ever traveled outside their immediate area. One of the girls lived in a humble cottage in the mountains with a vast view. The other girl lived in a rather lavish beach house on the Gulf Coast. 

 

The girl who lived on the coast decided to call the girl who lived in the mountains on this one particular evening because she knew she would be witnessing a fabulous sunset and she wanted to share the experience with her friend. Little did the girl who lived on the coast know, her friend who lived in the mountains had the most glorious view of sunsets herself and it just so happened that she would be witnessing a fabulous sunset this same evening. 

 

Something happened this evening that neither of the girls saw coming…..an argument. 

 

As each girl described the sunset they were witnessing, they were both adamant that HER sunset was far more glorious than the other. Neither girl would budge on her stance so they hung up both being angry with the other. Each of the girls could not understand why the other could not/would not believe the other when she said, “My sunset is more glorious.” 

 

(Seems like such a frivolous argument.) 

 

A few days passed. Gulf Coast girl had been praying to the same God her friend believed in and wanted to make it right with her friend. She received a revelation. Of course each girl believed her sunset was “better” than the other because neither one of them had ever seen a sunset other than the one in her own backyard! 

 

So, Gulf Coast girl called her friend who lived in the mountains and explained her revelation that she received and told her friend that she was going to save up some money so she could come visit her at her mountain home to witness “her” sunset and asked if she would do the same so that she could come witness a Gulf Coast sunset. 

 

Perspective.

 

Each of the girls indeed witnessed a glorious sunset and they both truly believed it was the ONLY way to see a sunset until each of them took herself out of her own environment and moved herself into the other’s environment to see something in a way they’ve never thought about before.

 

Did either girl budge on her opinion as to which sunset was “better”?

 

Does it really matter? The fact remains that your perspective leads you to believe the way that you do. The way you were raised, the environment you lived in, the dynamics of your family and so on. Your perspective is your perspective and someone else has a totally different perspective based on factors that were probably different to yours. It doesn’t necessarily make you wrong.

 

Again, did either girl budge on her opinion as to which sunset was “better”? Probably not, but the effort that went into at least trying to see where the other person is coming from can “move mountains”. It can help bring understanding to why another person believes the way she believes. Neither girl was wrong. They both just had a different perspective.

 

Remember this when you disagree with someone and you just don’t understand why that person can’t see things your way or why you can’t see things her way. You both have different perspectives.  

And maybe ask God to help you move out of your own head and space for a moment to try to see where your friend or someone who is on a total different spectrum than you is coming from. It doesn't mean your opinion will change but you are at least willing to budge and try to see it from their point of view.