Back from the beach and making more of an effort

We are back from our great vacation in Charleston with my parents and my Aunt Loretta. We were also thrilled to see my Aunt Anita, my cousins Laura and Jonathan and their kids Jeremy and Gabriella. The kids had a terrific time at the beach. Avery loves when we get nailed by the waves and Ethan loves looking for shells.

The last few weeks have been crazy with cool things happening to me from being elected to the Terry College Board at UGA to throwing out the first pitch at the Braves game. I was thrilled with everything that I received but still there is a part of me that is having a tough time.

It took talks with Andrea and with my therapist George to figure out the problem I'm having. That problem is that I miss my friends. Over the past few years, I have not made the same effort with my friends that I have made with my charitable efforts. While I believe I've been put on this earth for a purpose and that purpose is to raise awareness and donations for cystic fibrosis, I think somewhere along the way I forgot to have fun. Granted, I have a terrific time with Andrea and the kids. Still there is something missing and that's my friendships that I cherish.

To my friends, please know that I am blessed to have you in my life and I miss seeing you on a regular basis. I know with kids it is a lot more difficult but I will try to make more of an effort to talk to "you" rather than just texting you, forwarding you my blog or sending you updates about charitable endeavors. Whether it's just a phone call or a lunch get-together, I hope that we can find time to catch up.

In other news, we took off Avery's training wheels and she is almost riding her bike without any help. She is reading all the time now and I'm just amazed at her progress.

Ethan is the Energizer bunny. Seriously, someone find the off-switch. He is a good kid though. He loves to smile and he is a total prankster like his daddy.

A special Happy Birthday to Andrea today. She's 26...at least to the kids. I will never reveal a woman's age on my blog as I don't want it to be shut down. Andrea, I love you. I hope you have an amazing birthday!

In other news, my back is finally recovering from my trip to Skyzone. I can now run again and lift heavy weights. I have met some terrific people of late through our foundation and now have speeches planned at LinkedIn, Marist High School and one for the Atlanta Jewish Gene Screen.

I want to send my condolences out to the families of the victims in Aurora, Colorado. What a horrible event! I am so sad that this happened and know now that movie theaters will likely become like the security gates at airports. It's sad what the events of 9/11, Oklahoma City, Colombine and Aurura, Colorado have done not only to the victims but also to the people of this country who used to feel so safe. I am thankful at least that the police caught the man who did this. I pray for the families involved.

I wish everyone a wonderful week and I look forward to talking to you soon.

Live your dreams and love your life,

Andy