We don't have an especially large family. My wife has a little sister and we have two boys. My family tree is a little more complicated with a sister, half sister, two half brothers, two step sisters and one step brother.

All-in-all its a pretty good family. My side comes from small-town America while my wife is one of those rare individuals who lived in one city all of her life and in the same house from the time she was four. She went to grade school, junior high, high school and college with people whom she had known her entire life. Weird!

I thought I would start this section off with a tribute to my dad...

He worked for the county assessor's office for years and on one occasion made a bid for the office of assessor. The man who won the election and became his boss also became his good friend. That was the way my dad was. If you can't beat them, make friends with them.

He knew the entire county like the back of his hand. One day we met some friends of his who were going to London and Paris. While we were talking I gave them directions to a couple of great restaurants and affordable hotels in those cities. Afterward he remarked at how amazed he was that I could give such detailed directions for cities so far away. I told him how incredible it was to me that he knew almost every person and almost every house in every nook and cranny (using his vernacular) of that county.

The bond that he had with his community was made real to me on the day of his funeral. In that small town the funeral home had put extra chairs over every inch of available floor space and the crowd still overflowed into the hallways and out into the parking lot where many listened to the service over a loudspeaker.