Who's Your Momma?

As a young man, I would always love hearing those golden nuggets of wisdom, masked in the form of clever one-liners.

For instance, if my friends ever sensed I was being timid in asking for something I wanted or thought I needed, invariably I'd hear someone shout... "The squeaky wheel gets the grease man."

This one was often tossed my way when fear or laziness was obviously keeping me from moving forward. "Billy boy... it's not going to just happen. You have to make it happen."

For years, this little ditty's been ringing in my ears motivating me to pick up the phone, with a smile in my voice, when a customer calls at 2:00 in the morning, or 8:00 in the evening on a Saturday night, needing help. "Twenty percent of all salespeople get 80% of the business."
Here are a few others I really like.

• If it were easy, anyone could do it. 
• The more you learn, the less you know. 
• Everything in moderation. Side bar... this one has always gotten the best of me. 
• Gravity is holding you down, what's holding you back? 
• Plan as if you're living forever and live as if you're dying tomorrow. 
• Surround yourself with the best... I love, love, love, love this one. 
• The more I drink, the better you look... or is it the other way around?

The longer I live, the more golden many of these nuggets become... but there's this one I feel outshines them all.

Trumpets please!

"When Momma's happy, everyone's happy."

Every family has that one special someone with the biggest heart, the widest smile, and the most compassion, who will anywhere or anytime, drop what she's doing to love you through any blood, sweat, or tears you may be spilling at the moment.

And it is no secret who that person is in our family; every one of my kids knows who I'm talking about. She's the nurturer, the counselor, the nurse, the motivator, the listener, the one you want to laugh with, the one you want to cry with. Get the picture?

Yes, in our world, Momma's my wife, Leslie. She's the one who makes our world go around... and sees to it that it continues to do so. Not to mention, she's also hot. But that's just icing on my cake... and boy do I love that icing!

So, as I said... when Momma's happy, everyone's happy. Guess what my primary mission is?

Now before I go any further, I have one disclaimer. I'm a Gemini... in every sense of the word. Just ask Momma... she'll tell you. As a matter of fact, if you look up the word Gemini in the dictionary, it says Bill Peak and Bill Peak. So, perfection for me is being able to carry out a mission... half of the time.

Seriously, I'll do anything to make this woman happy. I'll choke down and swallow my pride when it gets in our way.

I'll give her flowers or other small tokens of affection for no particular reason. I'll trip over myself opening doors she's about to go through.

When we have a difference of opinion and we both know we're right, I'll take a breath, chase that other half of myself away, allow the dust to settle a bit, and then try to make her laugh. You see, when she laughs... I know we're good.

She gets at least a hug every time I see her. Wait a minute... that's one of my perks.

If I sense there's something she wants, she will get it... period amen. Truth is, she doesn't ask for much.

Believe me... in no way, shape, or form am I patronizing her... not a chance. Honestly, when you live with a giver, expressing affection is something you look forward to.

Wow, you say... you must be the perfect husband. Well, if that's what you're thinking... you'd be thinking wrong. Have you already forgotten my disclaimer above?

Here's the bottom line, and it's the only thing that matters. She absolutely 100%, without a doubt, knows where she stands with me... and believe me, its way up there.

Here's the beauty of it... and it's probably why it's so darn easy to give to this woman of mine. No matter what I do or how much I give... it always, without exception, flows back to me... correction, flows back to us... in SPADES!

You see... she just can't help it. Giving is her nature. In fact... what I have learned from living with her has enriched every facet of my life.

This world is made up of givers and takers, and up until I was 17, I was, you guessed it, a taker... and one of the best I might add. It was "My way or the highway." Most everything I did, every decision I made, every chance I took, was to benefit me. Sad but true.

Then one day, out of the blue, comes this gorgeous brunette with hair down to her waist, and legs up to her neck... of course, that was the first thing I noticed. I was a 17 year old male for goodness sake.

Everything about this girl, from her good looks to her magnetic personality, was 180 degrees out of phase from mine. To put it bluntly, she was completely out of my league... but that didn't stop me.

I knew I had to gather what little composure I had left, stop staring at her legs, and do something drastic if I was going to have any chance at all to win this girl over.

As I collected my thoughts, reality began to set in like a cold London fog. I suddenly realized I had only one chance... at the most two, to make this happen... Slim and None. I needed divine intervention.

So I prayed... "Lord, if you grant me just this one blessing, and believe me, I realize it's a biggie, I promise I'll never ask for another... ever!" I went all in.

Yes, I know the prayer was shortsighted... but I was desperate. Let me tell you, I had this wheel of mine squeaking like a rusty broken down tricycle. Lord, I need some grease!

Blessings are gifts from God you don't deserve.

Fast forward 40 plus years, 6 kids, 11 grandkids, and 1 fabulous blessing later.

As I sit here in this moment, reflecting on how my life has transformed from living with my bride, it almost brings tears to my eyes.

All I can say is that the Lord must have taken me at my word when I promised I would never ask for anything else, because within that one gift was everything I would ever need. God is awesome!

Love fuels the fires of joy in our lives... and the hotter it gets, the more it spreads. Givers understand this.

When a chronic giver loves you... you have two choices. You can take, take and keep taking until the fire burns out. And make no mistake... it will burn out.

Or you can wise up and toss a log or two on as well. And if you go ahead and take it to the next level by continually stoking that fire, it will spread to everyone in its path. Again... "When Momma's happy, everyone's happy."

Listen, I fully realize I'm not telling you anything you don't already know... I get it.

But guys, you also know that if you were to come home from work tonight with, let's say... a single rose and a heartfelt I love you babe, you would not only bring joy to the moment, but it would also have a good chance of making her entire day... and yours. But... do you do it?

It's not because you don't love your wife. The question becomes... with all the chaos in your life... do you have the presence of mind to stop and actually purchase that rose. You sure did when you were pursuing her... I'm just saying.

I don't know about you, but I often need to turn off the noise in my life, take a breath, clear my head and just linger in the moment. And if I'm patient, more times than not, life's fog slowly dissipates as the things which truly matter begin to come into focus.

That one-liner I love so much is a beautiful example of one of life's undeniable truths... You get what You give.

And what we are giving is manifested by our dominant thoughts. And those thoughts, whether we like it or not... we choose... pure and simple.

I believe if we set our mind to it, we can actually attract, from our thoughts through our actions, everything we desire. In fact it's automatic... we are constantly attracting everything that we are currently setting our mind to... whether we truly desire them or not.

I can't be happy while in a bad mood, feeling sorry for myself, holding grudges, having the blues, being jealous, fearful, or being in any other self-defeating mindset.

Unfortunately, this mindset is what my mind believes I desire. And the longer I think this way, the more engrained it becomes.

No wonder it's so difficult to forgive someone, shake off the blues, or overcome a fear after it festers for a while.

The bottom line is... when the mind's busy sowing such negative feelings there's no room for the good stuff to take root... motivation, love, inspiration, healing, joy, productivity, and above all... happiness.

Life is too damn short for anything less than the good stuff... and the only way to get the good stuff is to give it away... like Momma does.

Now here's the part where I need to come clean. Although everything I said about how I treat my wife is absolutely true, the fact is... she doesn't need me to motivate her to be happy... it's the other way around. It's always been the other way around... 180 degrees if I recall.