It is Valentines day and I should not be online but I wanted to sneak off for a few minutes to talk about love.

My beautiful wife reminded me tonight how important love really is.  While I shouldn't need reminding, I realized tonight that I am so lucky to have such an amazing life partner and that everything I am and do is really about her and our amazing kids- Ian who turned 4 in August and Amy-Grace who turned 3 in December.

Much of my life has been defined by work, what I have been able to accomplish.  But if it weren't for those I love, none of my accomplishments would really matter.  Like a tree falling by itself in a Forrest (from my philosophy days at Emory), nobody would hear me, nobody would care, nobody would even cut me up and burn me for warmth on a cold winter night.

I am fortunate that I have been relatively successful and accomplished much.  Yet, the money I have been rewarded with rarely makes me feel special. If it weren't for the love of my family, I would have a pile of green paper and little else.  If I came home with a gazillion dollars but there was nobody there, what would it really be worth?

It is hard to not work hard (unless you are lazy). Compassionate or not, there is "bacon" to bring home.  My wife and kids need to eat, have shelter and want "stuff". Like it or not, all of this "stuff" is expensive and providing it is hard work.  Yet it is all too easy to get caught up in the "stuff" and forget about why the "stuff" is important.

If I came HOME tomorrow and my wife and kids weren't there, what would I have left? "STUFF".....

What would I still have to work for? NOTHING.....

So, while I still need to "bring home the bacon", I cannot forget what I am working for.  Every day is a miracle and if it weren't for my amazing life partner and kids, I would have nothing and would be nothing.  I would be totally lost and really wouldn't have anything to work for.

I love my wife and kids more than anything in the world.  To borrow a cheesy movie line "they complete me".