Featured Articles

The Art Of Discernment

admin

May 30, 2018

Raymond Lunsford and his wife Lisa have quite the footprint on Main Street of Boerne. Though you might not know…

The Birth Of A Legend

admin

May 30, 2018

A quick fun “fact” about Boerne Berges Fest. Did you know that the Fajita taco has a tale that links…

How To Win Friends And Influence…

admin

May 30, 2018

Ah readers, little do you know how Mama Marjie worries about you guys with Berges Fest fast approaching! I lose…

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I’ve wanted to write this particular Publisher’s piece for a while (as in years) but could never quite sculpt it in my mind in a way that made any sense for you, the reader. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe that I’ve been kicking the topic for this…

That Which We Cannot Control

This column isn’t for you. I’m writing it for me. Because I need to hear it more than you do. Or maybe there’s someone out there as messed up as I am. If somebody had told me 5 years ago “I suffer from anxiety” I would have resisted chuckling at them. “Really? Anxiety? What are…

Old Timer

June just started and the mercury is already flirting with triple digits. I’m going to sit in my air conditioning and contemplate who is responsible for this atrocity. Update forthcoming next month. Or not. It may still be too hot to peel my wrinkled old man ass out of the trusty la-z-boy. Stay tuned.

From The Publisher

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I read a lot. In my previous life, I was a voracious reader of fiction, and had read every Stephen King book multiple times over. As I’ve gotten older, I have found that I read a lot of stuff about self-improvement. Some of it is in the printed form, and some of…

Golf “Pro”

The Texas Hill Country offers some of the best golfing experiences anywhere in the state. Courses designed by pros who’s names even non-golfing types know. Fantastic. Problem is, unless you make mid-six figures, you probably never have, nor ever will play on a course like that. We here at EXPLORE are a frugal bunch. Not…

Spiritual – Strengthen What Remains

Lately I’ve been learning a lot about NOT being perfect. That’s right, I know this might make your head explode, but your humble little writer is actually imperfect. I know that’s hard to believe, but I assure you that it’s very, very true. I’m a flawed man and father and son, and I do a…

From The Publisher

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, Plato once said, “He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it.” The concept of “injustice” is a topic that I’ve spent a little time on lately. I’ve even written about it in these little Publisher letters, and I’m not sure I’ve made a lot of progress…

Sweet Eats

Easter may have been on April 1st, but we’re willing to bet you’re still wading through the piles of wrappers and finding that fake Easter basket grass in places you never thought possible. We thought it would be fun to enlighten our readers with some Easter candy facts so that next year you can impress…

From The Publisher

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, I once saw a simple little sign in a guy’s office that said, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I snorted a chuckle and moved on with my day. Strangely, I have thought about that little sign time and again…

Art Of The Deed

Handling the title policy on your new home purchase may not seem like the most emotionally intense job out there, and for many it probably isn’t. However, for Randy Allen and his team at Alamo Title of Boerne, they take the process seriously. And yes, they attempt to take what many might consider mundane and…

TAO

Back in Boerne by popular demand, the TAO Taiko Drummers will take to the stage with their latest production: Drum Heart! These internationally acclaimed percussion artists have transfixed audiences worldwide with their modern, magical, mystifying performances that are the hallmark of the ancient art of Japanese taiko drumming. This is not just your ordinary drum…

The Grapes of Wrath

“Crossroads”: A song that has inspired many a road trip in my day. Though the Eric Clapton version is a bit more upbeat, and the John Mayer version is a little smoother, there’s nothing like the original dirty, gritty vocals of Robert Johnson to stir up some serious sense of adventure. Over time, I found…

Worry Not

We all tend to worry a lot. We all do it – we worry about our jobs and our kids and our relationships and our money. We worry about war, and politics, and even the weather. Whatever it is – somebody, somewhere is actively stressed and worrying about something. It could be something global: “Man,…

From The Publisher

Dearest EXPLORE Reader, There’s just something about an old boat. It can’t be a new boat, nor even a restored boat. It must be an OLD boat. It needs weathered upholstery, and faded controls. The interior carpet should be ripped and jagged, and there simply must be random tools in random locations, and there better…

Spiritual – Patience Is A Virtue

Sometimes our vantage point provides us with a most unique angle to view human nature. Part of my job is running a local website. It’s an e-commerce platform, meaning that it is a gateway that allows people to purchase items from local businesses. Our customers are typically local folks looking to save a few bucks…

From The Publisher

admin

May 30, 2018

Dearest EXPLORE Reader,

I’ve wanted to write this particular Publisher’s piece for a while (as in years) but could never quite sculpt it in my mind in a way that made any sense for you, the reader. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe that I’ve been kicking the topic for this piece around since about 2011 or thereabouts, so yeah, I’ve cooked on this one for a while.

I typed a draft of it one time a few years ago and gave it to someone to review for feedback. Their response? “Too dark.” This surprised me as that was not my intention at all. I didn’t want to be “dark”, in fact, I wanted to be the exact opposite. Nonetheless, the idea got shoved back into the sock drawer and life carried on.

I’m not sure if I’ll somehow unpack this topic better than I did years ago, but I suppose I’ll give it a shot.

15 years ago I decided that I was going to fix a poor performing riding lawn mower. I had believed that the blades were simply out of balance, so surely it would be easy to fix. I was living in Houston at the time, and it was August. So in the heat and humidity that only Houston can sustain, I went to the garage to begin this simple little project armed with my trusty little toolbox of tools. I jacked up the side of the mower, turned on my little Casio radio on the workbench and wiggled on the floor under the mower deck.

What ensued was probably 5 hours of heat-stroke inducing sweat, cursing, bleeding knuckles, and immense frustration. It wasn’t just the mower blades being out of balance…I’m pretty sure the whole mower was out of whack. As soon as I thought I got a part “fixed”, the part attached to that one broke/snapped/came loose. I worked for hours trying to chase down the culprit and ultimately almost put myself in the hospital from the exertion. Soaked to the bone, covered in grass and oil, I stumbled inside to the blessed AC, guzzled a gallon of water, and laid flat on the floor of my living room staring at the ceiling fan.

My job hadn’t been the most difficult, but it sure turned out to be a CHORE. What should have been knocked out in an hour or so became an exhausting and frustrating experience that wore me out, mentally and physically. When I told friends about my day later, they scoffed and chuckled and made a joke about it and I suppose that I laughed along with them after making a joke about setting that damned mower on fire.

But here I am, 15 years later, and I can still remember the exhaustion and the frustration that this goofy chore caused me. But then we all encounter not “goofy chores”, but some serious turmoil. Death. Divorce. Hurting people. Sadness. Grief. These are not things that people approach with a trusty toolbox and spend a few hours “fixing”, but instead, they are large traumas that can hit us hard.

However, they are similar in that people don’t see the “work” that goes into trying to remedy the situation. The late nights. The tears. The fights. The red eyes and sleepless nights. Kinda like my bloody knuckles.

It’s all the things that you never see.

How many times have you sat on your back porch and lamented the loss of your spouse (or parent or child or friend)? You stare across your yard and watch a bird fly and you sigh heavily. You remember good times, grimace at tough times, and stare into your coffee cup as your heart just hurts. You’re struggling, friend, and we all do that from time to time. You might even have a tear run down your cheek.

But then your friend calls you on the phone and says “Hey, how ya doing?” and you feign a smile and say “Doing great. You?” and they actually believe you. And just like that, you are off to talking about unrelated topics and even sharing a laugh. But you still carry the hurt and your friend is none the wiser.

It’s all the things that you never see.

My 12 year old son is a sensitive soul. He couldn’t have been 6 and he came bounding into the kitchen one day to hand me a drawing that he had made for me. I don’t even remember what it was – probably a dinosaur or some such thing – but he proudly handed me his masterpiece and without thinking I smiled and said “Woah – this is great! But look – it looks like you missed a spot with your crayon up here in the corner.” I kick myself to this day for saying it (cause it was stupid) but also because his face just dropped and you could tell that I had just crushed him. To cut to the chase, I learned a few minutes later that he had 3 books laid out with photos that he was trying to copy and a half dozen crumpled pieces of paper from his previous drawings that he didn’t feel he had done his best. He had tried and tried and tried.

It’s all the things that you never see.

There are countless examples for this topic. So much of life happens in the shadows in solitude. So much of our struggles aren’t shared, and even when they are, it’s so hard to get the true depth of one person’s struggle. What’s easy or simple for you, is a mountainous journey for another. Your ability to just “get over something” is virtually impossible for another. Another’s struggles are things that you can forget about in your daily routine, but for the person in the middle of the struggle, it’s a constant and noisy foe.

Don’t forget that there’s so very, very much that you never see.

I am no perfect person (far from it, as illustrated by my mower story), but I do try to remember that I know far less than I think I do. And even what I think I know, there’s so many things that I never see.

Be kind to each other out there, people.

Welcome to June. May this summer be everything you ever hoped, may you EXPLORE farther than you’ve ever been, and may you remember that as much as you’ll see this summer, you’ll never see it all.

Smiling,

Benjamin D. Schooley

The Art Of Discernment

The Birth Of A Legend

How To Win Friends And Influence People At Berges Fest

Sunrise Pottery

Featured Articles

The Art Of Discernment

The Birth Of A Legend

How To Win Friends And Influence…

From The Publisher

That Which We Cannot Control

Old Timer

From The Publisher

Golf “Pro”

Spiritual – Strengthen What Remains

From The Publisher

Sweet Eats

From The Publisher

Art Of The Deed

TAO

The Grapes of Wrath

Worry Not

From The Publisher

Spiritual – Patience Is A Virtue

Contact Us