For me the holiday season was always the most rewarding time of the year as a child interested in hunting. I had every issue of deer and deer hunting magazine to fill in during the non-holiday months. But hearing and seeing hunting as a kid can never be replaced..those memories will stick with you the rest of your years. During Christmas and Thanksgiving, we started a tradition. My Grandfather, God rest his soul, used to sit down after the meal and tell us of all the deer hunting stories he remembered growing up. For me their was no better story teller that lived. See my family has always been sort of dysfunctional and encountered endless arguments over senseless topics for as long as I can remember. The lesson of karma is that at some point in time, God, the Universe and the "powers that be" will step in with the intent of rebuilding the structure of a family broken down.

Not only were the fads up in the air in the seventies, so were the headline news. In 1971, the 26th Amendment was passed allowing a U.S. citizen to be able to vote at age 18. In 1974, President Nixon resigned from office as the Watergate scandal unfolds. In 1975, President Ford announces war in Vietnam was finished as far as the U.S. was concerned. And Space became the "New Frontier". In 1972, Pioneer 10 lifted off to journey past Jupiter. In 1973, Skylab was launched by NASA. And in 1976, the Viking I landed on Mars. Boy, times were changing fast, just as Bob Dylan had predicted. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/victim-no-11-sniper-probe-as-woman-shot-dead-5360016.html Considering cost of living in her area in the seventies, her income was suitable. A new home could be purchased for $25,000. A postage stamp rose from $0.06 in 1970 to $0.15 in 1979. I asked my mother if she could recall some prices of the decade. She remembered bread being $0.29, gas $0.74 a gallon, candy bars $0.05, soft drinks $0.10-0.15 a bottle in the early seventies and in the late seventies prices started to rise. She remembered cigarettes costing $1.00 a pack, cracker $0.29, milk $1.00 and most canned goods $0.10. Li-Li led me into a corridor leading to an office in the back of the building. There she introduced me to Mr. Nguyen van Duong who wasted no time in getting to his questions. Duong was an ugly man, small and fat at the same time. His hair was thin for a guy in his 40s, and he used a pomade to plaster it to this head. The skin on his face had an oily sheen to it. His lips were fat and reminded me of raw liver. Every year when my wife and I filed our taxes some things from MY past (not hers) would creep up. If we filed our taxes on February 1st, we were lucky if we got our refund in August. I had a buy truck used that had a manual transmission. My wife cannot drive stick shift but I had to put her on my insurance because she is has a driver's license and lived with me. If she had tickets or a DUI from the past, my insurance would be sky high and I have never had any tickets and I don't drink and drive. It wasn't a problem for us but it could have been. My experiences at the Shadow Bar occurred more than forty years ago, but I still wonder if I should have reported the incident when I returned to Engineers Hill. My husband's best friend Jake is the lead contractor for a large construction company on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. Last year his firm was granted permission to build a brand new home Extreme Makeover Home Edition in Armada, Michigan. Remember: be prepared, have an agenda and keep focused on the discussion at hand. Involve everyone from partners to associates to staff and keep an open mind to marketing ideas, plans and needs. But most of all... make it a true priority to institute those strategies when the retreat ends.