Wow! Already 4 years passed? December 23, 2017 is and will be always my memorable day! Why?
Because…
As a happy surprise, I met my 🖤💛🖤💛 broadcaster, @Dan_DUva! Truly a special Christmas gift. Merry Christmas to you and your family, Dan! 🎄❄️🎅🏼 Miss seeing you! 🤗
I grew up a little different than most people. 3 of my 4 siblings have special needs. My one sister passed away before she turned 1. My other sister is high functioning and can do somethings tho she will probably always live with my parents. This is my youngest brother. He is 28 years old. Non verbal, autistic and has something called microcephaly. He’s not potty trained, needs help eating, and needs 24 hour care. He can say basic words like mom and dad, water, hot dog, car, etc. but it’s a tender mercy attending church with him Sundays. When he hears a song like love one another, or silent night, or popcorn popping, he will sing along with it somehow. He will actually string words together the best he can with a smile on his face while he’s singing.
It brings a tear to my eye when I hear it. I think often of Gods commandment to become like a child and I wonder how? How can I do that? Submissive, meek, full of humility and kindness. I can’t remember what it’s like to be a child! But then I see someone with special needs and the kindness and love they show, of their tenderness and innocence and love and I am reminded. Oh yes, that is how.
People think being in a family with siblings with special needs is hard and a “trial” maybe there is some truth to that. But after growing up like this. I feel like it’s the opposite. I’m blessed beyond anything I can imagine to be around children of God who love the way He did and it reminds me to try and be a better person so I can be with them all in the next life.
A guy who ghosted me 6 mos ago texted me “hey, you up?” At 10pm on a Friday night.
I was gonna just ignore it but I was feeling froggy.
I texted back yea, wanna link? He was like yea, what’s your address I will come by your place. I said ok.
Looked up a random house for sale on Zillow and texted him the address.
He texted me I’m outside about 1hr later.
I silenced my notifications and went to sleep. Woke up to about 40 missed calls, 15 voicemails and 20 text 🤣🤣
I smiled and blocked 💅
On September 11, 2001, trapped on the 83rd floor with no hope of escape, she called 911… not to ask to be saved, but to send one last message to her mother.
Melissa Cándida Doi was 32 years old.
She lived in the Bronx with her mother, worked as a financial manager in the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and loved ice skating in Central Park in her free time.
A normal, peaceful life. Until that day.
At 9:03 a.m., the second plane struck the South Tower.
Melissa was in her office, dozens of floors above the impact. The stairwells were already impassable, and fire and smoke were rising.
There was no way out.
At 9:17, she dialed emergency services.
She spoke with the operator for almost nine minutes. She described the smoke, the unbearable heat, the feeling of suffocating.
Her voice trembled, but she was clear-minded. She asked repeatedly if help was coming.
Then, little by little, she understood the truth.
They wouldn’t make it in time.
And in that moment, she did something profoundly human.
She didn’t scream.
She didn’t cry.
She didn’t despair.
She asked the operator to contact her mother.
“Please, tell her I love her. Tell her she was the best mother in the world. Tell her I’ll see her in the next world.”
Simple words. Immense words.
At 9:59, the South Tower collapsed.
Melissa was still inside.
She did not survive.
But her voice did.
In 2006, during a trial related to the attacks, the recording of her call was played in court.
Those present listened in silence.
Jurors, journalists, judges—everyone with tears in their eyes.
Because in Melissa’s calm, in that final act of love, the humanity of thousands of people was reflected.
Twenty-three years have passed since that day.
We have built memorials.
We have said, “We will never forget.”
But remembering is not only commemorating a tragedy.
Remembering also means honoring the strength, dignity, and love of those who, like Melissa, chose to face the unimaginable with an open heart.
Melissa could have spent her last minutes in despair.
Instead, she thought of her mother.
She wanted the last thing left of her to be love.
Her mother, Evelyn, always spoke of her with tenderness: a kind, bright young woman who loved the little things.
And that is what we lost on September 11—not just lives, but unique, full
In all my years of broadcasting, I'd never gotten emotional on air until tonight. It was impossible to hold back the tears.
Jack Piccione of Tappan Zee lost his father suddenly last Sept. 1. Matthew Piccione died of a heart attack minutes after playing pickleball with friends. He was 51.
Over the last three years, I got to know Matthew Piccione fairly well. One day back in 2023, he asked coach George Gaine for my number so he could call me just to say thank you for calling out Jack's contributions during Tappan Zee's championship run.
Jack was a role player who averaged maybe 5 points a game as a freshman. But he started and never came off the court.
"I know he doesn't score a lot of points," Matthew Piccione said. "But you are one of the only people who appreciates what he does for the team."
Matthew Piccione kept a very low profile at games and reinforced in his son to be the emodiment of all the things that make Tappan Zee basketball different than any other program in the state.
Play unselfish. Defend. Be coachable. Defend. Draw charges. Pass. Sacrifice for your teammates. And, of course, defend some more.
Nobody in the history of Tappan Zee basketball since I have been covering has ever played that role better than Jack Piccione. He's the best best defensive player in the program and is on an elite level of players I've been around in Section 1.
When Matthew died in September, I worried about Jack. I wondered what his senior season might be like. The person most responsible for instilling and reinforcing the values that made Jack great was now tragically gone.
Tonight, Jack Piccione scored 5 points in the Section 1 Championship game. FIVE. Yet not only did his team because of his performance, I had the honor of handing him the MVP Trophy to prove it.
In the final 90 seconds of the game, I shared the story of Matthew Piccione and his passing. You will hear the emotion in my voice. It's genuine, not because of any relationship I had with him. You just can't be a sports parent and not relate to loving your child and always wanting what's best for them.
Because here's what I am going to tell you. And I really want all parents to read this and remember it:
Your kids' youth - not just athletics, but all of it - is short and it's precious. You don't get this time back when it's over. It goes way too quick. And some don't even get to see it to the end.
You have a choice: You can spend this period of their lives stressing about how many points they score, what awards or accolades they receive, begging people to vote in the online poll for Player of the Week, emailing the coach and complaining about playing time or lamenting the number of shots they get in a game. Go ahead. You can make all of that important for yourself and your child. Trust me, you won't be alone in doing so.
Or you can do what Matthew Piccione did. Sit in the stands and enjoy watching your children compete. Teach them that it's team above all else, stress what it means to sacrifice and ensure them that, when you do those things and have success, the feeling of hanging a banner will far exceed any of the personal accolades think are important.
And, sadly, God might choose that you won't be around to see it all anyway.
Matthew didn't get to give his son a hug after he won tonight. And Jack didn't get to see the pride in his father's face. Think about that. If you are a parent, try to put your child in Jack's shoes. If God forbid your child was confronted with the same tragedy, you'd want them looking back on this sacred period of their lives the way Jack will forever recall them with his dad.
Tonight was complete validation for Jack Piccione and all of the things his father always told him.
Jack scored 5 points and won the MVP on his way to becoming the most decorated basketball player in Tappan Zee history.
Nobody has ever won more in a TZ uniform than the most unselfish player they've ever had. He wouldn't trade his career with anyone, either.
Take a moment to listen to myself and Pleasantville coach Nick Bonura from tonight's @SportsEngine broadcast of @TZeeAthletics@TZhoops
NEW: Team USA honors Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed by an alleged drunk driver, by bringing his kids on the ice.
Gaudreau was set to make the U.S. Olympics team before he & his brother were hit by a car in August of 2024.
His kids are now 2 and 3.
🇺🇸
Yesterday, I booked a private I taxi for airport.
When I arrived at my destination, the driver gave me his business card for future bookings.
Dr. Bartholomew
Picklesworth III, PhD Wow!
I was surprised and asked him "Why are you driving a taxi with such high qualification?'
He replied, "Dr. is the short form of Driver."
"Then what about your PhD?"
"I am a Privately-hired
Driver"
Kurt Warner shares the lesson that changed his entire career and it applies to everything.
He sat on the bench for 4 years in college. When a friend asked the coaches why he wasn't playing, the answer wasn't what he expected:
"The reason I wasn't playing was because I was not very good in practice."
His first reaction? Allen Iverson mode.
"Practice? What're you talking about, practice?"
But then he did the math.
"In college we play 12 games in 365 days. In the NFL we play 16 games in 365 days."
That's less than 5% of your year.
"95% of our lives are lived in practice. And the biggest impression we make on people, the way people can understand and really realize who we are, is what we do every day in practice."
This is the 95% Rule. And it applies to everything - sports, business, relationships, life.
1: Show Up With Your Best Effort - Compete and give your best every single day. People can't question how you show up - your effort, attitude, and actions. Consistency removes doubt.
2: Trust Is Built In Practice, Not Games - Trust is earned in the thousands of moments before it's given. Before you can be trusted, people want to know you're dependable. Every day. Not just when it matters.
3: Master Daily Consistency - Success isn't about intensity - it's about consistency. Your habits compound. What you do daily defines who you become.
4: Big Moments Are Earned In Small Moments - The little details make the biggest difference. Greatness starts with preparation - it's earned in the boredom of doing the work when no one's watching.
Excellence isn't an event - It's a habit.
Practice is where trust is built.
How you show up daily is who you really are.
(🎥 Passing the Torch Podcast)
(🎥 @kurt13warner)
@McnallysaraMc Happy Birthday, Sara! 🩷🎉🎈🎁🎂 I hope you had a wonderful time! 🙏🏻🎶 I haven’t been posting recently as much as before, but I enjoy reading your posts and I am always inspired! 🥹 Take care and have a wonderful week! 🫶🏾
She was selling 50-cent lemonade for her cancer treatment. She had no idea the local motorcycle club had just held a meeting about her.
For 8-year-old Mia, the lemonade stand was her "job." Bald from her treatments and so weak she could barely sit up, she was determined. Her mom, Sarah, was heartbroken and embarrassed, watching from the window. She'd tried to tell Mia they didn't need the money, but she knew the truth: this wasn't about the 50 cents a cup. It was Mia's way of fighting, her last piece of hope.
She'd been sitting out there for an hour, her little body fading in the autumn sun.
Then, she heard a deep rumble. A massive Harley-Davidson, ridden by a biker who looked like a mountain, pulled to the curb. He was covered in leather and tattoos, his beard down to his chest.
He got off the bike and walked over. Mia looked up, her eyes wide.
"What's the special today, boss?" he rumbled, his voice surprisingly gentle.
"Lemonade," Mia whispered, her voice frail. "It's... fifty cents."
"Looks like the good stuff," he said. He didn't reach for his wallet. Instead, he unzipped a heavy leather satchel from his bike, walked over, and placed it on the small table.
"I'm not thirsty," he said, looking her right in the eye. "But I need you to do something for me. You give this to your mom. You tell her it's for your treatment."
Mia, confused but trusting, just nodded and thanked him. The biker got back on his bike and, with a final nod, rumbled away.
When her mom came out, she found the bag. Inside was over $4,000 in cash and a small note: "From a few guys who know a fighter when they see one. Stay strong, little warrior."
Sarah, stunned, later found out that a quiet neighbor she barely knew was a member of that motorcycle club. He had seen Mia out there day after day, trying so hard. He'd told her story at a club meeting, and every hardened biker in that room had emptied their wallets into that leather bag.
Credit: Sofia Williams
𝗗𝗿. Frank Mayfield was touring the Tewksbury Institute when, on his way out, he accidentally bumped into an elderly floor maid. To ease the awkwardness, Dr. Mayfield struck up a conversation.
“How long have you worked here?” he asked.
“I’ve worked here almost since the place opened,” she replied.
“What can you tell me about the history of this place?”
“I don’t think I can tell you much,” she said, “but I can show you something.”
She led him down to the basement beneath the oldest wing of the building and pointed to a small, rusted cell. “That’s the cage where they used to keep Annie Sullivan,” she said.
“Who’s Annie?”
The maid explained that Annie was a young girl brought there because she was considered incorrigible—wild, uncontrollable, impossible to manage. She bit, screamed, and threw her food. Doctors and nurses couldn’t even examine her.
“I was just a few years younger than Annie,” the maid continued. “I used to think, ‘I’d hate to be locked in a cage like that.’ I wanted to help her, but if the doctors couldn’t, what could someone like me do?
“One night I baked some brownies after work. The next day, I set them on the floor outside her cage and said, ‘Annie, I baked these just for you. You can take them if you want.’ Then I hurried away, afraid she’d throw them. But she didn’t. She took the brownies and ate them. After that, she was a little nicer to me. Sometimes I’d talk to her, and once I even got her laughing.
“One of the nurses noticed and told the doctor. They asked if I’d help them with Annie. So whenever they needed to see her, I went in first to calm her, explain things, and hold her hand. That’s how they discovered Annie was nearly blind.”
After a year of slow, difficult progress, the Perkins Institute for the Blind opened. Annie was sent there, where she learned to read, write, and eventually became a teacher herself.
Years later, Annie returned to Tewksbury to visit and to help. The Director remembered a letter he had just received from a desperate father. His daughter was blind, deaf, and thought to be “deranged.” He didn’t want to put her in an asylum and asked if anyone might come work with her at home.
That is how Annie Sullivan became the lifelong companion and teacher of Helen Keller.
When Helen Keller later received the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had most influenced her life. She answered, “Annie Sullivan.”
But Annie replied, “No, Helen. The woman who influenced us both was a floor maid at Tewksbury who brought a little girl some brownies.”
They Walk Among Us… Bless Their Hearts! 🤭🤣
I was at the Walmart checkout the other day.
The cashier rang up my total: $46.64.
I handed her a $50 bill — she smiled, handed me $46.64 back.
I said, “Uh, I think you gave me too much change.”
She gave me a confident look and said,
“Sir, I graduated with honors. I know how to count.”
So naturally… I left the store with $46.64 and an honorary math degree.
They walk among us! 😅
Next stop, Starbucks.
I had a Buy-One-Get-One-Free coupon for a Grande Latte.
I showed it to the barista, who glanced at the chalkboard.
It read: “Today only — Buy One, Get One Free!”
She squinted, nodded wisely, and said,
“Oh! That means they’re both free!”
And handed me two lattes — for zero dollars.
I walked out of there feeling like I’d just robbed a coffee bank with a coupon. ☕💸
They walk among us! 🤣
One sunny afternoon, I was walking on the beach with friends when one shouted,
“Look at that dead bird!”
Another friend instantly looked up and asked, “Where?”
…We just stared at the sky in silence.
They walk among us! 🐦😂
My brother once asked a real estate agent which direction was north,
because, he said, “I don’t want the sun waking me up every morning.”
The agent blinked and said, “Does the sun rise in the north?”
When he explained it rises in the east — and has for a few billion years —
she sighed and said, “Oh, I don’t keep up with that kind of stuff.”
They walk among us… armed with real estate licenses. 🏡☀️🤣
When I worked in tech support, I once got this call:
“Hey, what hours is your 24-hour helpline open?”
I said, “Uh… 24 hours a day, sir.”
He asked, “Eastern or Pacific time?”
I said, “Let’s go with Pacific.”
And hung up before my brain melted. 💻🫠
They walk among us!
My sister bought one of those emergency seat-belt cutters —
a tool meant to save your life if you’re trapped in a car.
She keeps it… in the trunk.
You know, for easy access in case of emergencies. 🚗😂
They walk among us!
At the liquor store, my friends and I bought two cases of beer.
Each was 10% off.
The cashier proudly announced, “Two cases? That’s 20% off!”
We nodded, paid, and left.
She may not have mastered math, but she did make our night. 🍻🤣
They walk among us!
At the airport, I couldn’t find my luggage,
so I went to the Lost Baggage counter.
The lady smiled and said,
“Don’t worry, sir. I’m a trained professional.”
Then she asked, “Has your plane landed yet?”
I blinked and said, “No, we’re still in the air, circling the terminal. Thought I’d come stretch my legs.” ✈️🤦♂️
They walk among us!
Once at a pizza shop, a man ordered a small pizza to go.
The cook asked, “Would you like it cut into four slices or six?”
The man thought hard and said,
“Better make it four — I’m not hungry enough for six.” 🍕🤣
They walk among us… bless their beautiful, innocent hearts. 💖
Moral of the story:
The world may not always make sense…
but it sure makes for great entertainment! 😂😂😂
Everyday without fail some person walks by and tips over the fresh water bowl we put out for dogs on our street.
I started noticing it about three months ago. Every single morning the bowl would be on its side, water soaked into the dirt, and I'd fill it back up. At first I thought maybe a dog knocked it over, but then I installed a cheap camera and caught someone on video deliberately kicking it as they walked past. Just kicked it for no reason, kept walking like it was nothing.
We live on a street where a lot of strays wander through, and it gets brutal hot here in summer. I've seen dogs drinking from puddles, panting so hard they look like they might collapse. So my daughter and I started putting this bowl out with fresh water twice a day. She's eight and it was her idea, said she wanted to help animals that don't have homes.
Every morning she asks if the dogs got water and every morning I have to tell her someone knocked it over again. She cried about it last week, asked why people are mean to animals who just need a drink. I ordered a custom weighted ceramic bowl from a maker on Tedooo app, extra heavy base so it can't tip easy, and it's supposed to arrive today.
My daughter painted a little sign that says "for thirsty pups" and we're going to put it out together as soon as the new bowl gets here. I'll update you all when it arrives. Hoping this one finally stays upright and whoever keeps doing this gets the message. It's such a small thing but it matters so much to her, and honestly to me too.
If you see water left out for strays, please just leave it alone. Some kid probably put their whole heart into it.
Credit: Linda Evans
I’ve lived as high and as low as it’s possible to go. There were times I’d put $2 worth of fuel in my tank and other times $100. I’ve had $5 to just feed myself and I’ve also had $200 to go out to eat.
I’ve had a house full of food and I have also had times when I didn’t have any. I’ve been in stores cashing out with no worries and I’ve also had to add it up and put things back on the shelf so to not be embarrassed. I’ve paid my bills in full and I’ve had to pay them late too. I’ve given money to others and I have also had to ask for it.
We all have highs and lows in life. Some certainly more than others, but we are all just trying to make it. No one is better than anyone else and my heart is sad for those people who think that they are. No matter how big your house is, how new your car is, or how much money sits in your bank account - we all bleed red and will eventually fade from this earth. Death has no discrimination and neither should your life.
Be kind to others. We are all here to serve. Stop the power tripping. Your oversized ego won’t get you anywhere. Be humble… be kind.
And keep faith going!!!!!
Very few will actually read this far but if you’re genuine, you will understand.