I think I live in the eye of a hurricane. And I love the calm I find here in the eye of the hurricane. And I love stretching metaphors well beyond their intended usage. So bear with me. If you can manage your way through the piles of chrome book zoom doom clutter, Amazon boxes (thanks for all the gift cards), blankets, and Wally’s impossible to find leash…

When we want to find certainty, clarity, and direction- please do NOT rely solely on the light of a headlamp. The best birthday gift I have ever, ever received could probably light up Foxboro and Tom Brady and …oops, sorry fans- a little Covid Brain Fog settled in there. But getting back to the LIGHT…that I WANT TO SHINE EVERYWHERE! My headlamp is now my serenity stone. And even better – the students here at the Donadoni Academy- hate it. And so that’s a win-win. But you can’t rely solely on that light. I mean, I know I shine bright. (insert true story: Standing in the middle of a high school cafeteria a self-deprecating student approached me one day and proclaimed, “Mr. Donadoni, I am afraid that my future is not nearly as bright as your head”). But you gotta have more than a bright light to survive these days.

As if the chaos of the Capitol was not enough, let’s not forget that we are still in the middle of a pandemic with hybrid, remote, and confusion the words of the day. How can a Principal move his school forward in the midst of this hurricane, or chaos? I mean, when doors are slamming, windows rattling, stairs groaning, screenagers screaming and outside the window comes the Tree Eating Truck at the same time as the Rubbish Removal… Chaos. But, when faced with this- do you have an eye for finding the calm? Or at least the lighthouse?

Which brings me back to the eye thing. And the head lamp. I love my birthday gift of light to shine. I definitely will have to work on when and where to have it on as it seems to make my Academy members scatter like cockroaches when you shine a light on them. And please do not read more into that comparison, except that my family is as strong as those ancient, adaptable, enduring since the beginning of time cockroaches. Now that I have ample evidence that the family does NOT like the headlamp shined in their eyes, I will get better at controlling that beam of light. The point of the story is that when all hell breaks loose like it does here nightly, then I have my LIGHT. Which gives me calm. Because I can see right in front of me. I can see the sizzle on the steak as I grill, and the dog as he lifts a leg. I can even be a spotlight for my own basketball players right here in the driveway.

I have the calm. Calm and the light. So that when I stay calm, I can shine my light exactly where I need to shine it. But, I can’t be yelling at one kid and trying to find the dog while flipping burgers with that one amazing on a bald-head-light. At 6PM. In January. No- I have to do one thing at a time. Stay calm. Stay focused. See the grill lines on the burger, flip the burger- oh snap is that a squirrel over there? See, just having the light to shine isn’t enough. You gotta be calm. The light within us that we desperately want to share-n-shine on others, can best be shared, when we are still, serene, focused, calm…not shaky, blurry, or zoomy!!

And, now that I have my headlamp, I can feel my inner peace and go bravely forward in the dark Danvers night without fear, because of that light, faith, serenity, and strength. (Of a cockroach.)

Thanks for Coming!