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| 107-year-old Myrtle Pack Brabb, one of the longest living Summers County natives |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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By caleb okes no media credit provided. ,
1 hours ago
hinton, wv (wvns) – myrtle frances pack brabb was born just months before the end of world war 1, on july 4, 1918 in hinton, west virginia.
36th annual r.T. Rogers oil classic kicks off with a bang, shady falls in morgantown she was able to experience more than a century’s worth of life, as she served as a homemaker, a cook, a dear family member, and friend.
her niece, juanita brooks, decided to move back to hinton from florida to be with brabb in her later years, as myrtle lived in main street care. Juanita explained they went everywhere together. She said brabb had several pet birds during her lifetime, but every single one of them she named pete.
“her routine was to have a cup of coffee every morning at first, and then she would go to the dining room table and set and put her finger in that birdcage, talk to that bird for a half of the day and she told it to say, ‘pete is a pretty boy and i love you. Pete is a pretty boy and i love you.’ She would put her lips up to the birds cage and the bird would kiss her,” said juanita brooks.
myrtle was a member of riverview chapel in hinton. Her family, friends, and fellow church members all recalled her wittiness and kindness.
college stars show kids the way of the mountain lion at hoops day camp back in her 60s, without her knowing, her husband went to florida to pick up his brother’s kids off the beach, who were homeless, from what juanita understands. He brought them back and myrtle helped raise those kids.
“she loved to help people. She helped my mom a lot in a lot of lives, decisions and in things that were impactful decisions in her life. It kind of helped shape mom as an adult, to love jesus and be a faithful servant and so she made an impact in this world through her whole 107 years. She impacted many people that way,” added dewayne brooks, myrtle’s great nephew.
myrtle lived to be 107 years old, which might be one of the longest spanning lives in summers county history, if not the oldest.
when she celebrated her 105 th birthday, which just so happens to coincide with america’s birthday, jim justice issued a proclamation honoring her and her long life. She received an astounding 1,800 birthday cards from all over the world, even some from canada.
“she got all those and jim justice told her that if she made it to 110 that he would come and celebrate her birthday with her. Obviously, she did not make it to 110,” said juanita brooks.
responders rescue woman during attempt to jump from bridge brabb passed away on december 9, 2025. Her friends and family gathered at pivont funeral home for a celebration of her and her long life.
copyright 2025 nexstar media, inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to wvns. |
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| What Makes McKenney a Rare Freshman Talent |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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What makes mckenney a rare freshman talent
the dynamic guard from orchard lake st. Marys also discusses why he trimmed back his long dreadlocks before pouring in a game-high 17 points in sundays 102-50 win over la salle for no. 2 wolverines
photos courtesy of university of michigan photography
michigan guard trey mckenney played sunday with a short haircut after beginning this season with long dreadlocks.
by steve kornacki
ann arbor, mich. Michigan’s basketball team functions like a machine. But, make no mistake about it, this is one fun machine to watch.
the no. 2 wolverines, 11-0 after sunday’s 102-50 win over la salle, reached 100 points for the sixth time.
and while there are many players who are pure joy to watch, i’m particularly impressed with freshman guard trey mckenney, who had a game-high 17 points by making 5-of-8 shots (including 3-for-5 on three-pointers) and all four free throws.
he does everything on the court with great efficiency and force.
however, before we get to his style of play, let’s touch on his new hairstyle.
mckenney played the start of the season with long, flowing dreadlocks featuring some light highlights. But he now sports a short, compact haircut.
michigan radio play-by-play man brian boesch was taken aback by the radical change and told listeners, “he chopped off, what? Seventy-five percent of his hair?”
analyst partner terry mills added his take with a reference to the biblical tale of samson and his deceptive barber, delilah: “they say you are supposed to lose your strength when you lose your hair, but trey certainly hasn’t.”
mckenney told me of his new look: “i just had to re-set it a little bit. I chose to re-start my hair. But i felt like it was a pretty good decision.”
does it require less attention this way?
“yeah,” said mckenney. “I was getting a little tired of it. So, i just had to start somewhere new.”
and as for not losing his strength like samson, he smiled and said, “yeah, i mean, i put the work in for it.”
may says mckenney works hard on everything.
just how many shots does he take daily?
“i get up a lot of shots – before practice, after practice,” said mckenney. “Sometimes i come back at night [by myself]. Think my preparation is pretty good. So, i just want to stay sharp as much as i can.
“we have a system that charts how many shots we take, but i don’t look at it too much.”
he also plays all 90 feet of the court with smarts and grit.
i asked michigan coach dusty may what contributes to the freshman’s great awareness.
“first of all, he was coached well,” said may. “Growing up in his travel programs and his high school team [under orchard lake st. Mary’s coach todd covert] and he played usa basketball. Usually, the usa basketball component is, in our staff’s opinion, a good indicator of being able to produce early because they played on teams with really good players, when it wasn’t about them.
“so, it’s all those cumulative experiences. But he’s also just a really bright person and well-rounded individual. That certainly helps. But anyone that acts like our players do, i’m going to give a lot of credit to their support system and their circle with parents and coaches.”
may didn’t want to take much credit for his development, but mckenney said of the contribution of may and his assistant coaches: “they’ve definitely gotten me better – a lot better than when i got here. I feel a lot more like i can play efficient basketball. I’m getting easier shots playing around talented guys like yaxel and the rest of the crew.”
yaxel lendeborg played just 20:40 in the blowout with eight points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.
“this is the most easiest shots i’ve ever gotten in my life,” noted mckenney.
the wolverines actually started a little slow, trailing, 10-9, against the explorers. But then mckenney went to launching three-pointers that hit nothing but net.
he took a pass on the run and fired from the left corner for the first swish.
then mckenney shot a trey from right corner that concluded a 10-0 run, and the rout was on.
mckenney can play both guard positions also showed his split-second decision-making ability on one drive to the basket. He was looking to pass left or right, but when the zone defense went to his passing options, mckenney simply drove to the hoop for an easy left-handed layup.
“there are super-talented guys on my team,” said mckenney. “They create a lot of gravity for other guys. So, they open up gaps for me and other people on my team.”
he fits perfectly with a team that seems to attain greater joy in watching others score. When walk-on howard eisley, jr., Son of a former assistant coach here under juwan howard and a former nba player, launched a three-pointer that swished to make it 102 points and scored his first college points, the bench of stars erupted. Preseason all-american lendeborg fired his towel high into the air while shouting with great glee.
“we’re really just all selfless,” said mckenney. “Every player on our team is just willing to make that next pass or get that rebound or do that hustle play or do that next thing for a teammate.”
mckenney was mr. Basketball last season in michigan and highly recruited. Yet, he never brags or boasts. He doesn’t look at himself as special. But, man, he is something extraordinary.
mckenney is one of those rare talents that comes along every so often.
his long-range shooting is special. He leads the wolverines with 23 treys and is shooting a nifty .404 from behind the arc – trailing only elliot cadeau (.435) and l.J. Cason (.414), who have combined to make 32.
are his strong legs what sets him apart as a shooter?
“that’s it,” said may. “He’s got a great base. He works on his game. It comes out of his hand clean. And he can shoot it off the dribble, and he can shoot it off the catch. So, those things all rolled into one will allow him to be a very efficient basketball player for us.”
mckenney is fourth on the team with 10.6 points per game – the most for a player coming in off the bench. Still, his 21.1 minutes per game is sixth, and he gets extra time by playing point guard when may empties the deep bench late in blowouts. He’s averaging 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists with five steals, and is a sharpshooter on the free throw line at .846 (22-26).
one media member asked mckenney afterward if he cut his hair because it was getting in his way on shots.
“not at all,” he said with a smile. “Not at all.”
he handled that question just like he handles everything, with patience and thought.
forward will tschetter, in his fifth season at michigan, has seen plenty of freshmen enter the program. What sets mckenney apart?
“i think it’s his maturity,” said tschetter. “He’s ridiculous. You see freshmen go on this rollercoaster a lot of times, and he’s ridiculously mature, ridiculously humble. Always has an open ear, willing to learn from older guys and coaches.
“and he’s just a really, really nice kid. That’s where it starts. Anytime you have a work ethic like him, your as good of a dude as he is, you’re going to go great places.” |
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| Jason Hewlett - The Promise to The One - Podcast Transcript |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Jason hewlett – the promise to the one
are you keeping the promises that matter most—to your clients, your team, and yourself? What opportunities are you willing to walk away from to stay true to your values? In this episode, i explore how honoring your promise, even when it means saying no, leads to greater success and deeper fulfillment—in weddings, business, and life.
listen to this new 29-minute episode for real-world stories and practical ways to make your promises your brand—and find lasting purpose beyond just chasing the next sale.
about jason hewlett
having delivered thousands of presentations over 2 decades, jason hewlett is the world’s only keynote speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions and comedy to teach leaders how to capture their unique leadership promise and signature moves. He has performed in every major casino in las vegas, is one of the youngest inductees in the prestigious speaker hall of fame, and is the author of the acclaimed self-help book, “the promise to the one”. Husband, father, writer, mentor, hiker and coach, jason’s blog “the promise” is enjoyed weekly by people worldwide, his online videos and courses inspire learning and entertainment, while educating and uplifting corporate executives, artists, leaders and families.
follow/connect with jason…
https://www.Linkedin.Com/in/jasonhewlett/ linkedin: @jasonhewlett
https://www.Youtube.Com/user/jasonrhewlett @jasonrhewlett
https://www.Instagram.Com/jasonhewlett/ instagram: @jasonhewlett
if you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection) or visit my website podcast.Alanberg.Com
please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.Connectwithalanberg.Com
view the full transcript on alan’s site: https://alanberg.Com/blog/
what is the promise to the one? Listen to this episode and find out. Hey, it’s alan berg. Welcome back to another episode of the wedding business solutions podcast. I am so happy to have my friend jason hewlett on to talk about his book and many other things. Jason, how you doing?
i’m great. Thank you for having me, brother.
well, thanks for coming on. Your book was referred to me by our mutual friend rob ferre. And. And i said, who else do we know in national speakers association that i should read their books? He’s like, you gotta read jason’s books. Like, okay. And read jason’s book. So i listened to your audiobook. So thank you for reading your book to me.
i appreciate that.
yes, sir. I’m glad you did the audible. That’s actually the best way i tell people. So good it is.
especially when i know the person because i hear your voice there. And little side note for people, i already told jason i always listen at 1.35 speed because i’m from new york, i live in new jersey, and you need to talk fast to me. I had to slow him down. Not, not less than one speed, but i had to slow you down. So it was great. So first of all, just, just tell people real quick, what is. What is the book about?
well, in the speed, you should have listened to it. It would have been like. The book is about the promise of the one. And i’ve spoken about promises for the last about decade. I like to say, why set a goal and you can make a promise? And that’s not to say goals aren’t important, because they are. But if you’ve ever set a goal, you just miss it and you set another one. But if you make a promise and break it, that’s a one and done. So i talk about the various promises we make to.
and i’m a performer, so as a speaker, i say the promise to the audience, the promise to the family, the promise to the 1. There are three elements of the promise. And really, the promise to the audience is your clients and customers. The promise to the family is the people you work with and at home. But the promise to the one is the one that we deny the most or not really focus on, because it’s easy to break a promise to ourselves more than anybody else. And so that’s why i started with that book. And there will be more coming soon.
well, that’s great. That’s great. And so many great stories in the book. Talking about when you were on mission. I was trying to picture you guys running in the rain, in the mud and let everybody listen to the book to hear their stories about this stuff. But the one that really stuck, because i see you as a performer, i’ve seen you perform, you’re amazing. But you had an opportunity, the opportunity to be in las vegas, to be on the big stages. But that wouldn’t have been true to the promise. Right?
right. Yeah. So the story is. And i appreciate you enjoying that story. In fact, you know what, alan? I never shared that story until a few years back when i was meeting with a speaking coach who said to me, jason, i. Why are you so worried about doing your show clean all the time? Like, what’s the big deal? Who cares? And i was like, well, i have this thing inside of me that says that i can’t do it, where it’s going to be something that’s too adult. And she said, what does that mean? And i was like, well, i made a promise to myself a long time ago. It would always be a family friendly, g rated las vegas experience.
and she was like, and how did you come to that? I mean, she was a great coach to be able to mine this story out of me because i had never shared what really happened. In the early 2000s, i was in my 20s, early 20s, i got the opportunity in las vegas to perform there. And people saw how good it was and how accepted it was. There was a guy named danny gans who was my hero. He was a musical impressionist. He could do comedy and perfect impressions. He looked the part, he sounded the part. He was an excellent, good man.
and he had signed $150 million deal at the mirage in the 90s as an unknown entertainer, corporate entertainer turned las veg vegas strip headliner. And i was. I remember seeing him and alan, i remember thinking, this is what i want to do with my life. I mean, that’s it right there. Because it was inspiring and it was hilarious and it was awesome. So i put together a show that was very much like his. Just one impression after another. I’m flying through, you know, and you know these artists, smokey robinson, i do all like a motown set.
smokey robinson, diana ross, stevie wonder, the temptations, the four time. Like, i’m going through all the greats in one set of things. It was really an impression of danny gans doing them. And, you know, he was a generation past me, but i was in my early 20s just trying to be like him. Within a couple of years, i was being offered to take his place, which was crazy because he was moving into the wynn hotel. And within a couple of months, he was gone. He passed away. But which was tragic in las vegas and for the world because he was such a bright light.
but before that all happened, they were saying, who’s next? And i guess that they thought it was me. And so the people that brought him to las vegas were saying, hey, in your early 20s, you’re going to be the next guy. We’ll put you on billboards, taxis. We’re going to manage your career. But you’re going to have to change a few things. The new slogan in las vegas at the time in 2004 was, what happens in vegas stays in vegas. So they went away from their 90s attempt at family friendly. When danny got there, by the time i got there, they wanted it to change.
and, you know, my. My whole thing was that i wanted it to be family friendly, and they didn’t want me to have all of these characters in there like alvin and the chipmunks. Like, i do all this weird stuff, right? And i do these funny faces and. And comedy that they were like, you know, it’s just a little weird. We need it to be more adult. More kids wouldn’t be coming to this show, man. The further i got down the road, the more i realized i was like, they’re not going to break their promise to their audience. That’s what the audience wants.
i can’t break the promise to myself. And my wife and i chose to walk away and go back to our very quiet life in utah as a corporate performer. And that was a great decision, although it was a very hard one. Right.
so that’s story. Yeah. But again, there’s the promise to yourself. Are you being true to yourself? I think when i was reading the book, it reminded me of times in my life where i’m by myself, thinking about something and going, i know what the right thing to do right now is, and that’s what i have to do. It might take me more time, it might take me more money, but if i’m going to deliver what i promised, whether it’s to myself or someone else, i got to do it right. I have to do it right. We don’t do halfway. And the people listening, a lot of them know my story, why i’m in the wedding industry.
i was in a job. I was making really good money, company car, paid benefits, and hating going to work every day because i felt no integrity in the job and what i had to do. But i had to do a good job because i also knew that my parents always said, you take a job, you do the best you can. You never do a bad job. If you. If you don’t like the job, you leave. You don’t do a bad job, you don’t stay into a bad job, you don’t check out. And you probably never heard this, but i took a job in a new industry.
i knew nothing about cold calling, which i had never done. Outside sales, which i had never done. I had to buy a car because i had a company car to give it back, and my wife was pregnant.
oh, my goodness.
oh. And it was straight commission. It was no salary, no draw, no minimum, no guarantee, no anything. But again, if i think back, using your phrasing here, the promise was, i know i can sell, but i cannot do this job anymore because it’s eating me up. I’m never home. Our son’s turning three. My wife’s pregnant. Oh, and by the way, the kid she was pregnant with, his son is turning nine soon.
that’s how long i’m in this industry now.
right. Yeah.
but again, that was a moment where i actually uttered the words, and this is going back to your story. They showed me how much money i was making, and it was good money. It wasn’t vegas money, but it was good money. And i said the words out loud in my 20s, it’s not the money. And i had an epiphany. I was like, i actually meant that. Like, i heard people say that, but i. I didn’t imagine they meant that.
right. Like, we know people. It’s always the chase for the bigger house, the bigger, the better car, the more money. The more money, whatever. I always thought, you know, of course it’s about the money. Right? And i was like, no, it’s not. That doesn’t make up for this. So that was, again, one of those moments.
i posted the other day that i hit 1700 days on duolingo, doing french every day for 1700 days. And that’s a promise to myself. If i don’t do at least a little every day, i’m not going to get better at this. Right. I don’t know what the end is. I’m not going to get better. But. But that was, again, why i wanted to have you on, because this is promised.
but talking about weddings, we’re talking about this a little bit before the people listening to weddings and events. And i made this comment that every time they say yes to you, they’ve said no to everybody else. And i consider that a privilege. And i think we can relate to that as speakers and you certainly, as an entertainer, right?
well, yeah. And thank you for sharing your incredible story. I did not know that. And i love it. And well done. You could write the promise yourself, bro. And, and so when it comes to the wedding industry and as well as performance and so forth. Yeah.
they are saying no to everybody else. And i consider it such a privilege to get the chance to be on stage anytime. And you know, there are times when you get to a gig and everything goes wrong. Everything goes wrong on the way to the gig. Maybe even landing the event itself is horrible. Going to the event could be terrible. And then when you’re at the event, all things could go bad. Now, but what’s your promise?
right?
that’s the, that’s the whole rub. And, and i, i, i learned this in las vegas. And because i did do vegas before the big vegas offer. I started in vegas, i was with legends in concert. I was an elton john impersonator. And that was at legends in concert. So i got to be, you know, can you feel the love tonight? And i’m singing in my early 20s, looking out at an audience of asleep, drunk, down and out people that got the tickets because they just stayed at the hotel. Now, this is the worst audience you can fathom, right? And i’m like, i remember performing out there, looking in the audience, thinking, how are the people that i’m performing with doing this every single night? Like, this would suck your soul.
yeah.
and then they would tell me, they were like, dude, whether there’s one person or a thousand, perform as if it’s your last opportunity. And i was, i thought, well, that’s an interesting way to look at it. And so in my early 20s, i learned quickly, perform as if it’s the greatest opportunity you’ve ever had. Because that one person watching might say, i needed this and this is going to help me live through tomorrow. I was like, okay, that’s a big promise, right? So i would show up at every single event. And my promise was i’m going to give 100% no matter who’s watching, no matter who likes me, no matter how terrible the drive was or the client was. And that has been my mantra for my entire career. And i believe although i’m good on stage, i’m good, i’m, i’m very good at what i do.
but i believe a lot of it comes down to that lesson of learning, be a hundred percent, no matter who’s watching at every single event, and you will succeed.
yeah, i have this thing. I learned it doing martial arts, not striving for perfection. And i thought we were trying to do the perfect punch, the perfect kick. I mean, it was a second degree black belt. And the master said, no, no, because if you achieve perfection, you can’t improve on it. So i always say that i want, every time i’m speaking, training, whatever it is, i want it to be the best i’ve ever done, but not the best i can ever do, so that the next one will be better and that this is the. I hope this is the best speech i’ve ever given, but not the best i can ever give. And again, it’s the promise to the audience, the promise to myself, to always be growing.
right? I joined national speakers association because i went to speak. I was vice president of sales, the largest wedding website in the world. And they booked me to speak in montreal at an event. And there was no trade show, there was no booth, we couldn’t hand anything out. And i was like, why am i going? And they said, well, we told them you’re going to go. I said, but we have no marketing opportunities. They said, well, we told them you’re going to go. And i’m like the little kid, okay, i’ll go.
and i think i had to fly in from denver and i had my wife meet me up there because it was at the fairmont queen elizabeth where john and yoko had their bed in. I was like, you know, it’s a nice hotel, just make the drive up. So she meets me up there and i’m literally like, you know, what am i here for? I get on stage, i. I spoke, i get off stage and somebody said, alan, that was a great speech. You’re a great speaker. Are you a member of the national speakers association? And i said, what’s that? And why should i care? Because i didn’t identify as a speaker. I identified as vice president of sales of this company. And it’s because of going to that gig and giving it my best that 18 years later, i’m a member of nsa, i’m a csp, i’m a fellow of the psa, uki and a global speaking fellow, because somebody said, i really appreciated that you should do this.
and same thing, right? It’s the promise. So i think with weddings and events, you hit the nail on the head. You know, the traffic, everything is wrong. You know, flat tire on the way there, all these things. But when you get there, it’s not their problem. No, it’s not their problem. And i use the words, it’s a privilege every time they say yes to us. Because there’s no law in the world that says you have to spend money on a party when you get married, or a bar mitzvah or a quinceanera or a sweet 16, or a communion or a christening or go down the line.
we do that because we want to celebrate with the people that are important to us, not because we have to. That is a privilege every time. And that promise where somebody the other day sent the thing to me, said, you know, what do i do about this? Bride comes up to me in the middle, i’m playing a song and she’s like, that’s on the do not playlist. Which it wasn’t. Okay, it wasn’t. But he apologized quickly. Turn it off. Right.
what do you do? Do you. Do you make. Do you say she’s wrong. Right again. You’re happily married for a long time. I am as well. It doesn’t work out to tell anybody that they’re wrong.
especially bridezilla.
yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, in the middle of the song, or as when my son got married last year, part of my very short speech was that every day you wake up and you have a choice. You can be happy or you can be. Right.
yeah, there you go.
so to choose wisely. So, you know, in, in weddings and events, the idea of the promise, it’s the promise to what would the three be there? Right. It’s. It’s the promise to themselves.
yeah. It’s the promise to the 1. It’s the promise of the family and the promise to the audience. And so, you know, when it comes to the promise to the audience, that’s your customer, that’s the client, that’s the person paying for you to be there. If you don’t deliver, then, man, you have broken the promise in a major way. And if you make your problems their problems, then that’s not good business. You will not be referred again. You will not have more opportunity.
you will crush your own business by making it their problem. So show up, do your job, be your best. And that sounds like such basic 101, but for some reason common sense is not very common. And so what is your promise to the family? You’re going to hire somebody to help you eventually, at some point, whether you’re a one man show or if you’re, you know, bringing a whole grouping of people. I know that when i was doing weddings because i’ve done a lot of weddings, man. You did. Probably didn’t realize that about me, but i started in that, that space because after leaving legends in concert in vegas and moving back to utah, i started playing piano at weddings. And i realized that this was a really nice gig, right? To be at the nicest hotels and the nicest events and they’d give you a nice meal and all this stu i wasn’t charging at that time, didn’t know that was even a thing until i then ran into like the, the joe muscalino band in salt lake.
and he was like, yeah, i’ve been doing this for 30 years. You should be charging money for this. And it was very helpful to have mentors that showed me. So essentially that became my family, right? Was like the other vendors, the people i could refer, i could be like, hey, you should have this caterer, you should have this av person, you should have this wedding trio, because i’m not a trio. And all of the different ways that they almost became family around me, to be able to refer them that, that was a huge thing to keep the promise to say i need to be good enough for myself as the person that shows up and delivers, that they would be willing to refer me for everything. And that became a nice little family that i dealt with for many years until finally i realized i was not the best for the wedding industry. But i found corporate was kind of more of my space and education. And so, you know, we all find our right place.
but i do have a story that i think you’d probably get a kick out of. I don’t know if it, i don’t think it’s in the book. A guy saw me at a corporate event. It was called the elton awards. It was for juice plus, it’s a big multi level company. And he saw me as the mc and i did elton john because i was like, i don’t know why it’s called the elton awards, but here’s elton john. So i sang as elton john. He was like, oh my gosh, those awesome, amazing.
he goes, you need to come do my wedding. And i, i hadn’t done a wedding for like five years, six years. And i said, oh, dude, i don’t do weddings anymore. And he goes, well, it’s in paris. And i go, what time? You know? So he flies me to paris, france with my wife and they get married in a small town called sarlat s a r l a t sarlot, which is like a medieval town in the middle of france. And so flies me there. He wants me to foil the audience. And he introduced me as his wacky roommate from college.
and so i stood up there with my elton john wig, which is like an old mop top. And i acted like i was drunk at this wedding because he and his bride wanted to fool the whole audience. And so i stood up there and i’m like, hello, everybody. It’s great to be from, you know, england and come over here. So i did this just ridiculously bad accent. I pretend i’m drunk. And i said, i want to sing a song to my favorite friend. And i started singing, can you feel the love tonight? And then i sing it perfect, like elton john, right? And the crowd goes crazy, like, what is happening? And then i go, just kidding.
and i whip off my wig and i go into ricky martin and then to the bee gees and staying alive. The crowd. We just had, like, a party for a half an hour. So that is the last wedding i did. I believe it was over a decade ago, but it was in france. It was worth it. That was so fun to keep a promise like that to that guy. But that’s a fun one, right?
well, again, he saw something. But it also checked all your boxes because there’s you and your wife in france, right? You gave it your all. Certainly. And, you know, and i think it’s funny, you know, you’re pretending to be drunk and you don’t drink, but you’re pretending to be drunk, right? Which is. I’m picturing this because i’ve seen you do elton john. Right. I’ve seen you do elton john, and i’m picturing you in france. And that would have been.
yeah, it was at a castle at a vineyard and the top of the hills. I mean, it was just. It was unbelievable. It was one of those miracle gigs that you get that aren’t every day that you say, i will compromise some of my normal business practice, which is like, i don’t do weddings anymore, but, oh, well, this is. This meets something i would like. I haven’t been to france, you know.
right.
and i just appreciate those types of opportunities and that someone would be so creative to think, let’s pull one over on the whole audience. And by the end of the night, i’m playing the piano man at the piano. That was in the middle of this castle. I mean, dude, it was so rad to think that, like, all of us have this opportunity to have these types of experiences. If we show up on our best and keep our promise at every event and we kill it every time, we’re going to get opportunities we never dreamed being in this business. Yeah, it’s like a fantasy world that we can create out of keeping a promise to our client.
i think it’s also important to keep your eyes open. But, you know, you’ve. At different points in your life, you’ve also said, no, no, because it doesn’t keep the promise. And i think that’s important as well. I know it’s harder when we’re new in business and, you know, money’s tight and listen, i. I started in a business that i knew nothing about and never done outside sales, cold calling, any of that stuff. Yeah. You know, you ate what you caught.
right. That was it, you know, and you get to a point where you look at an opportunity and you make the decision, does it check my boxes. And i know for me, i haven’t done it a lot, but occasionally where i put the money was like, wow, that’s. That’s good money. It was disingenuous because i was doing it for the money. I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. And early on, i used to get paid after i spoke or whatever, and now i always get paid in advance because i don’t want it to be about, oh, and now you owe me a check. Right.
i got the money. It’s done. The. The webinar that i’ve done with the least amount of people was i had one person on. On the webinar, and it was actually an nsa chapter. It was the pittsburgh chapter. They recorded it so other people could do it, but i literally had one person on. I always tell people, i always record, like, there’s only one person.
right. But that time i didn’t have to pretend because it was only one person. But i’ve also had people comment to me where i’ve shown up and there’s 20 people in the audience, and afterwards they’re like, wow, you just, like, you just like brought it. I was like, that’s all i know how to do. I only know how to bring it. That’s what it is. And i’ve had thousands of people in the audience and yes, i’m going to bring it there too. Personally, it’s cool to be on stage with thousands of people, but i’d rather see the faces of the 50 and interact with them, you know, to me, i enjoy that.
and i’ve had times where the money wasn’t, you know, what, the money wasn’t what it was supposed to be, but something felt right about it. And then you go, and then you met somebody, and then it led to something else or this or, you know, what? You just had a great time. You had a great time, and it was good, and that’s okay, too. So. But. All right, so last story. You. You told me a story about what you’re doing now, which is you’re not doing so much speaking and entertaining.
if you’re watching the video, you can see cardio miracle over his shoulder over there underneath, a wonderful family picture. Although. How long ago was that?
that was a good. Well, at least a decade. Man. Those kids are all moving away now. It’s crazy.
i was gonna say those are college kids, and. And then somehow those are a little there. But. So you’re. You took a shift that you probably five years ago, never thought you would have taken. Right, right.
yeah.
and you’re working with your dad.
yeah. So a couple of years ago, my bonus mom, my dad’s wife came to me and said, hey, would you mind looking at our company? Because i’ve been teaching the promise at corporate events as a keynote speaker now for a decade, wrote this book. It’s been killing it. Everybody has a great time because i mix in music and comedy impressions into a leadership keynote message to help people discover their signature moves, essentially, and say, how do you keep the promise with what your signature moves uniquely are for you? So it’s fun because i’m sharing musical voices that they all know. You know, it’s like, what’s your voice? You know, and. And so then they’re. They’re laughing, but they’re also learning. And i teach the icm process, which is identify, clarify, magnify your gifts and skills.
and if you don’t, then you’re breaking the promise. So i bring that into a corporate setting. I bring that into consulting as well, through companies. My bonus mom asked, have you looked at your dad’s company lately? And i said, i take the product every day. It’s cardiomiracle. It’s the best health supplement product you can take in terms of nitric oxide, which is a miracle molecule that helps relax your blood vessels, and it helps with cardiovascular disease. And so i looked at the company, and i was like, this. This is an amazing product.
but let’s look at the operations, let’s look at the marketing, let’s look at the sales. And my dad’s a masterful salesman. He’s the formulator of this. He does not have a background in health and science and these types of things, but he’s a smart guy. He almost was killed on the operating table in the midst of an appendectomy gone bad. And they were telling him he needed to have a quadruple bypass, he decides to crawl out of the hospital and create a product that could help him therapeutically naturally save himself. And so, i mean, it’s a crazy story, but it’s now saved millions of lives, which is an amazing thing. It’s a multimillion dollar health supplement company, not an mlm or direct sales.
but what’s fun about it is that now i get to help people to not only feel happier when i’m on stage and make them feel joyful about their purpose and their promise, but also i can, on top of that, with my dad’s company, help to help people with their health. I mean, when we’re not healthy, we’re not happy. Pretty darn hard to delineate between the two. And when we can find a way for whether it’s a genetic issue that we, you know, may just have inherited, or if we’ve brought it upon ourselves to eat too unhealthy or just have challenges in that way. Maybe you had a surgery recently, you do need blood flow to that area. You do need to continue to fix the internal pipes as best as we naturally can. We know that medicine has its place in time, and i’m grateful for that too. But then there’s also like, what can we do for ourselves? And i believe that there is a promise within saying i’m going to do everything i possibly can to have the healthiest life, not only for myself, but for my family, for my legacy, for what i want to leave on this planet.
and so cardio miracle, that’s become part of our mission. As i jumped into that world with my dad, it also was like a juggernaut for me because i’m a speaker for corporate, i’m an entertainer, and i go do all those things. But then now i’m also consulting and helping his whole team, which has become mine. I’m now the president of the company and i’m grateful for that, man. I’m just excited about being a part of this and doing something with my dad where we were a little estranged for a while with some of the decisions he made, some of the things that i responded to it as a 20 and 30 year old now in my 40s and he’s in his 70s. It’s a miracle that we have come together in cardio miracle as a father son duo, and we can go out to the world and spread joy through health and wellness. It’s a wonderful promise for our family.
but to me, the beautiful part was you were estranged for a while. And now you’re working with him and your brother, all kind of rowing in the same direction. And, you know, that’s what happens in life. You know, it happened to me 30 something years ago when, when my wife was pregnant and i shouldn’t have. You know, on paper, it’s like you’re doing what you’re taking a job in an industry you know nothing about and cold calling or whatever, but when it feels right, it feels right because it’s checking those boxes there. So that think that’s, that’s the wonderful part to me is that it brought you closer together. And then i didn’t know about your brother. That’s even better.
yeah, it brought us together and we get to work together every single day. There’s nothing better than working with family if it works.
yeah. My wife and i published two wedding magazines out of the house for five years. And i used to say it worked really well because i left every day to go make sales and she stayed there and ran the operation, so that, that worked there. So. But jason, thank you so much again. The book is the promise to the 1. You can see it in the show notes. You can see how to connect with jason over there.
i don’t think he gave me any links there about cardio miracle, but since we spoke about it, why don’t you send me those? I’ll add those to the show notes as well if somebody wants to find out some more. That wasn’t what this was supposed to.
be about, but, yeah, i appreciate even asking, man, but it is a family story and i appreciate it. It’s one of reconciliation and promise and. Yeah. So cardi miracles.
cool.
cardi miracle.Com. But i just really appreciate your good work. You’re a good man. You’re. You’re. You raised the bar for all of us because of the way that you live within this, you know, the wedding portion of life. But also, like, it’s not solely the wedding thing. Like, you’re like a masterful businessman.
you’re a great musician. You’re somebody. We all look up to you. You care about what you present to the world. You’re. You’re always so authentic and giving. I just really appreciate the man that you are. And you, you level up everybody that gets to interact with you.
so thanks for being a. One of my favorite follows on social media anyway. Right?
thank you, jason. I appreciate that. Thanks, everybody for listening. Be sure to hit the subscribe button. Catch you on the next episode.
i’m alan berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “the wedding business solutions podcast” please let me know. My email is [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection) or you can text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
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| Everything Mark Fletcher Jr. Said After Career Game Against Texas A&M |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Everything mark fletcher jr. Said after career game against texas a&m
in this story:
college station, tx — it was more than a simple win for the miami hurricanes against texas a&m in the first round of the college football playoff; it was a legacy game for star running back mark fletcher jr.
he, along with the defense, put the canes on his back and toted them for a career high 172 yards on 17 rushes. He averaged 10.1 yards per carry. He was unstoppable and proved why he was one of the greatest players to play for the hurricanes in recent history.
the history books wont highlight what fletcher means to this program, but everyone knows that this win means more than anything for the canes.
this was one of the most emotional moments of his life and he expressed that after the game.
q. Take me through the locker room after this win. What was it like inside?
mark fletcher jr: it was turned. I wish you could have seen it. It was turned. Youre probably going to see some screen recorded instagram lives, but yeah, we was turned.
q. For you to have the performance you did today on a stage like this, can you describe the emotion of that given everything that youve gone through?
mark fletcher jr: yeah, no, its just a blessing. Im grateful for this opportunity. Man, i definitely wasnt expecting this, but man, im just happy that we won.
q. Mark, can you kind of walk us through that 56-yard run that set up that game-winning touchdown?
mark fletcher jr: man, i just told the o-line and the wide receivers and tight ends, just put a hat on somebody and im going to be gone. Im going to be gone. Im going to handle the rest. Thats the reason it opened up like that.
q. With malachi, to see him get that touchdown, get the redemption, what do you think that meant to him?
mark fletcher jr: yeah, for a second i saw a head drop down, i immediately rushed to him, and i said, man, god has put you through some adversity right now; thats it. Its just a little adversity. You see all that time we got on that clock, man, lets go win this thing and look at god.
q. Your year has been very well chronicled, but your mom is outside the stadium. She drives to every game. She makes a sign that says freight train fletcher. I dont know if you saw it or not.
mark fletcher jr: i did. She showed me.
q. What does that support mean to you, really the two of you together?
mark fletcher jr: it means everything to me. Thats my rock. Thats my world. I love her so much. Weve both been -- its been hard on us, but hey, shes always there. The fact that she even drives, man, that really shows me that this lady really loves me.
i have that great support system, and im not by myself on that field.
q. How do you handle the emotions and how have you been able to handle everything the way you have over the last 13, 14 months?
mark fletcher jr: i just know that every day when i wake up breathing, its just another opportunity to make somebodys life better. God has just blessed me to be in this position, and i just want to impact anybody, any kids, anybody -- grown people, too, whos going through something that guys, your story is not over yet. Your story is not over yet. Keep on waking up, keep on breathing. You just continue to keep fighting and keep moving.
q. With you guys defense, whats it like to go against them in practice, and whats it like watching them do what they do to opponents every week?
mark fletcher jr: going against them in practice is frustrating, very frustrating. This game is all around, second level, first level. Theyre playmakers. Thats a great defense that we go against. They really get us ready for these teams that we go against.
q. How many times today did you think about your dad, and was there a moment at the end afterwards that you felt his presence there?
mark fletcher jr: yeah, i think about him every single day, shoot, every second, honestly. Thats what drives me. But like i told other people before, i had to switch my mindset how i would think about him. I would think about him and i would just get sad, even cry before some games. Thats not how he would want me to play this beautiful game of football.
i had a talk with my brother, and i would tell him this. I just said, yeah, i miss my dad, but he would want me to go out there and have fun, play loose and just have fun, and thats what i did today.
q. Youve talked in the past about how much he just loved all the guys on this team. How proud does it make you how much he continues to inspire not just you but everybody in that locker room?
mark fletcher jr: extremely proud. Theres a lot of them boys who probably never had that father figure, but he stepped in and he was there for them. Thats what a lot of us can relate on. Thats why they feel for me so much, that that was my actual dad, but a great person, great blessing, long live big mark.
q. Three years ago you made the decision to come to miami after not a good season. Sitting here today with a playoff win, how validating was that decision knowing how far the program has come since you decided to jump on board?
mark fletcher jr: yes, sir. Nobody believed that we could do this. We never really worried about those voices anyway, but were just very grateful, very blessed that were in this position, and were 1-0 today, were going to celebrate this and go 1-0 next week.
q. When we talked about coach dawson earlier, he said going into that drive the mentality was were rolling with you for that drive. What did it feel to have that trust, to go out there and make the plays when it matters most?
mark fletcher jr: yeah, thats everything that a running back wants to hear when they say were going to give you the ball and you do your thing. I immediately went to my o-linemen, my receivers and my tight ends, and i said, hey, yall know what to do, get them out of the way. Get them out of the way and im going to just do my thing, and thats what they did. Thats why them holes opened up like that.
q. What does it feel like to run that offensive line, the trust in them to go and open up those holes?
mark fletcher jr: its the best thing in the world. Best thing in the world.
q. When your receivers are clearing guys out the way they were today, what does that feel like? When you see it out of the corner of your eye a receiver coming down and just crushing a guy?
mark fletcher jr: man, it just turns me up. Its a team game, and i told them, yall go just kill them dbs and theyll open up the pass game for yall. Thats how its going to work, and thats just what we strive for.
justice sandle
justice sandle is a graduate of mississippi state university earning a bachelor of arts and science in communications with a concentration in print and digital journalism. During his time in starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for mississippi state on si primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for miami hurricanes on si covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things hurricanes related. |
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| In His First Playoff Moment, Pete Golding Gave Ole Miss Something Bigger |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Note: our coverage of ole miss football in the college football playoff is brought to you by the great folks at bluesky, richland dental, oxford krystal and southern traditions farm. We are incredibly appreciative of these sponsors and encourage you to click on the links above to visit their sites.
oxford, miss. — It wasn’t just a playoff win. It was relief. It was validation. It was release.
for ole miss, saturday night wasn’t simply about advancing in the college football playoff after beating tulane, 41-10. It was about surviving and overcoming everything that came before it — the uncertainty, the speculation, the headlines, the distractions that threatened to pull a season apart long before it ever reached december.
when the final whistle sounded inside a record-breaking, sold-out vaught-hemingway stadium, what spilled out wasn’t just celebration, though it was that for sure. But it was also emotion that had been bottled up for weeks.
players hugged longer. Fans stayed later. And a head coach who had spent years preparing for moments like this finally got to exhale.
this was the game ole miss needed to win.
not because of rankings. Not because of matchups. But because it was the moment ole miss needed continuity — a sense that nothing had been lost, only tested. And the rebels passed the test with flying colors.
a team that chose each other
from the outside, it would have been easy for this team to fracture.
coaching changes midstream rarely end cleanly. Rumors don’t pause for practice, and speculation doesn’t care about locker rooms. And yet, through all of it, ole miss players made a quiet, powerful choice: they chose each other.
they kept showing up.
they kept practicing.
they kept preparing like a team that still believed its best football was ahead of it — not behind it.
that belief showed itself saturday night in the way the rebels played: fast, connected, and intentional. Not perfect, but purposeful. Not flashy, but grounded. This was a team playing for something bigger than noise.
“it’s meant a lot, you can see he’s really invested in us, and having someone who’s a leader like that, it brings the best in everyone around us.”
– ole miss wr de’zhaun stribling on pete golding
— the rebel walk (@therebelwalk)
[december 21, 2025]
and for pete golding, the win meant more than a line on a résumé.
it meant trust.
it meant the players believed in him enough to block out everything else and follow his voice. It meant the message — spot the ball, go play, don’t flinch — had landed.
golding never made the night about himself. He didn’t need to. The emotion was written all over the scene: the hugs on the sideline, the pride in his voice, the gratitude he showed for a group that never wavered when it would have been easy to.
this wasn’t about schemes or play calls. It was about stewardship — keeping the train on the tracks when the world around it — and perhaps the former coach — tried to derail it.
saturday night proved coach golding to be an excellent choice to be steward of this rebels’ program.
a fan base that stayed
ole miss fans didn’t have to show up the way they did. They have been through a lot, pulled and torn as the media ran rampant with speculation for the last couple of months that their now-former coach would soon be gone, much less as the now-former coach continued his social media barrage, desperately trying to make the attention turn to himself.
they could have braced for disappointment and watched from afar.
instead, they packed the vaught — to the tune of a record-setting 68,251, breaking the previous top crowd of 68,138 vs. Florida back on nov. 15.
they brought the noise. They brought the belief. They brought the reminder that this program is bigger than any one name on a headset.
when chants of “pete! Pete! Pete!” Echoed through the stadium late in the game, it wasn’t about replacing anyone. It was about embracing the moment — and the people who carried the program through it.
pete golding and his kids exit vaught-hemingway stadium to the crowd chanting his name.
golding was congratulated by ad keith carter before tossing his visor into the crowd:
[pic.Twitter.Com/iz3wsxghzn]— matt degregorio (@matt_degregorio)
[december 21, 2025]
more than a win
this playoff victory didn’t erase the chaos. It didn’t rewrite the past two months. But it did something just as important.
it reminded everyone what ole miss football looks like when it’s rooted in resilience.
it reminded the players why they stayed locked in.
it reminded the fans why they invest so much emotion.
and it reminded the program that, even when things get loud, the work still matters.
ole miss didn’t just win a playoff game saturday night.
they won it together.
and after everything that tried to pull them apart, that might be the most meaningful victory of all.
next up
ole miss will travel to new orleans for a second-round cfp date with no. 3 georgia (12-1, 7-1 sec) in the allstate sugar bowl. Kickoff at the caesars superdome is set for thursday, january 1st, at 7 p.M. Ct on espn.
evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in austin, texas. She attended texas a&m and majored in english. Evelyns love for ole miss began when her daughter katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the rebel walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception. Email evie at: evie@therebelwalk.Com |
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| Depth delivers again for SWDP boys as they claim second straight state wrestling |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Despite having only five team members make the finals and just two earning individual titles, the student wrestling development program claimed its second straight division i boys state championship on saturday at the alaska airlines center. Their victory was due in large part to their depth coming up clutch once again at the asaa state tournament.
“it feels like a lot of the kids that had to suck up injuries, it paid off in the end,” head coach westley bockert iii said. “They did the hard work battling back in the back-half, pinning everybody that they could. It feels good because now they can rest and enjoy their christmas.”
unlike last year, the archangels weren’t sure ahead of the start of finals whether they had clinched the team title. That changed after victories by pins from seniors gage runnels and chandler st. George at the 215 and 285 weight classes.
“everybody is telling me it is (secured) but you don’t know until it’s over,” bockert said. “Once they got those two pins, that’s when i knew we got it.”
after losing a strong senior class from last year, bockert believed that repeating as state champs would be harder this time around. He was proud of how his wrestlers who didn’t qualify for the finals put in the work saturday morning and afternoon to build up such a big lead.
“a lot of those guys who were hungry to make the finals but didn’t really took it to (the) back-half and they didn’t just win, they dominated,” bockert said. “It really made it easy this year, just like last year.”
claiming a second straight state title not only proves that the program is capable of sustained success, it also boosted their reputation as one of the state’s elites along with runner-up soldotna, which used a strong showing in the finals to beat out third-place south.
“this is the best way we can get our name out to get more people interested in wrestling and football since we started that too,” bockert said.
from first-time wrestler to first-time champion
a little over a year ago, bettye davis east anchorage’s kenya-marie bruno was all about basketball, but she’d always wanted to try out wrestling. Because the schedule for the two sports conflicted, though, she hadn’t seriously entertained the idea.
it took some convincing from friends who also joined the team. Bruno found a passion for the sport that she didn’t think was possible and put in the work over the past 12 months to become one of the top female wrestlers in the state this season.
“i think it was the best choice i ever made,” bruno said.
on saturday night, she was absolutely dominant in the 165-pound title bout in the girls division to reach the top of the podium.
“it feels great,” bruno said. “No one really knows how hard i worked. I worked hard. No one really knows what goes on outside of wrestling and i just want people to know that if they put the work in and if they really want it, they can achieve anything.”
she lost only two matches all season, one of which came against the same opponent she faced in the finals — wasilla’s mckinley hafen. Hafen narrowly beat bruno 12-11 in their first meeting.
“going into this match, i knew what i had to do and i watched film every night,” bruno said. “That match broke me, so i knew what i had to do.”
she recalled how much time she spent crying and lamenting over what she did wrong in that match and was fiercely determined not to let history repeat itself.
“i never missed a practice. I always asked my coaches what should i have done here, what should i have done there and they coached through it,” bruno said. “That’s how i dominated. I put my cardio to the test, came every day and worked hard, went to weight lifting and did everything i could to win.”
while she was one of two thunderbirds to make the finals between the boys and girls divisions, she had the coolest introduction by far during the ceremonial faceoff before the finals. Bruno came into the arena sporting a red and blue boxing robe that drew a nice reaction from the crowd.
“my teammate, max francisco, has one just like this and i asked (coach) mario (santaella), ‘what can i do to get a robe?’ And he said, ‘maybe 12 years of wrestling and i’ll give you one,’ ” bruno said. “All of a sudden, he texted me and asked if this was the robe i wanted, and i was like, ‘omg yes!’ And he got it for me.”
she said she was awarded a robe for all the work she put in, not simply because she asked for one.
“i think he saw something in me that he didn’t see in other people,” bruno said. “I’m going to go to college for (wrestling), and i’m really excited for that and whatever god has in store.”
the soldotna girls won the division i team title, marking their third straight. In division ii, wrangell (146) edged out kenai central (140) to earn the team title.
2025 asaa state tournament
team scores
division i boys
1. Student wrestling development program 356; 2. Soldotna 326.5; 3. South 322.5; 4. Colony 136.5; 5. Juneau-douglas 100; 6. West valley 88; 7. Chugiak 81; 8. Eagle river 70; 9. Palmer 63; 10. North pole 59.5
girls
1. Soldotna 160; 2. Wasilla 115.5; 3. Colony 108.5; 4. Student wrestling development program 88; 5. North pole 87; 6. Homer 84; 7. South 81; 8. Lathrop 62.5; 9. Delta 57; 9. Palmer 57
division ii boys
1. Wrangell 146; 2. Kenai central 140; 3. Mountain city christian academy 102.5; 4. Dillingham 102; 5. Seward 99; 6. New stuyahok 90.5; 7. Nome 89.5; 8. Redington 81.5; 9. Unalaska 75; 10. Valdez 68.5
division i boys finals
103: manny novelli (32-1), south over colter campbell (24-5), east (md 13-1)
112: canyon may (42-3), west valley over harley hyatt (36-5), soldotna (tf 16-0 (5:06))
119: mason ekle (35-1), south over hayden may (43-3), west valley (dec 6-5)
125: hudson morris (38-6), soldotna over titus watts (33-4), soldotna (dec 7-3)
130: sam henry (44-1), soldotna over quenten halverson (31-7), swdp (dec 11-9)
135: mason bock (33-6), soldotna over isaiah schultz (25-4), colony (f 1:12)
140: carson cobb (39-6), soldotna over kendall wyble (30-6), swdp (tf 17-2 (3:39))
145: levi shivers (33-1), south over ezekiel bolton (29-6), swdp (dec 5-3)
152: michael dickinson (44-0), soldotna over shane ostermiller (31-3), south (md 13-5)
160: jacob morris (31-0), south over richard dunlavey (27-10), chugiak (tf 17-1 (4:38)
171: clayton mcguire (39-0), south over bohdan porter (36-8), south (tf 19-3 (4:23))
189: zane gerlach (31-0), south over thor nelson (36-3), colony (tf 19-3 (4:50))
215: gage runnels (34-0), swdp over max moat (26-8), wasilla (f 5:43)
285: chandler st george (17-1), swdp over james pearson (10-5), west valley (f 3:18)
girls
100: naomi keller (42-1), soldotna over grace loutzenhiser (26-3), colony (f 3:06)
107: jade sherry (35-4), swdp over nixie schooler (27-1), juneau-douglas (dec 5-1)
114: mia hannevold (28-0), soldotna over jaelynn colby (20-2), north pole (f 1:04)
120: braelyn troxell (36-3), colony over valarie mcanelly (46-2), soldotna (tf 22-6 (5:27)
126: sobina clendaniel (20-0), seward over kourtney barnes (29-2), wrangell (dec 7-1)
132: alora wassily (23-2), dillingham over saoirse cook (28-4), homer (dec 1-0)
138: brynlee lutz (43-0), wasilla over jane douglas (31-4), delta (f 1:44)
145: malila miller (26-1), service over lydia taysom (20-12), wasilla (f 3:01)
152: desiree moore (33-1), north pole over savannah stout (34-3), south (dec 12-7)
165: kenya-marie bruno (26-2), east over mckinley hafen (23-12), wasilla (f 4:35)
185: phoebe lang (22-6), homer over zadah unutoa (9-3), barrow (dec 7-4)
235: allison coffey (31-3), south over honey rexford (16-4), swdp (f 4:37)
division ii boys
103: jene keith (21-1), sitka over vincent gust (16-4), new stuyahok (f 3:24)
112: ross dunfee (21-7), mountain city christian over jd keith (19-6), sitka (dec 9-2)
119: august reigh (21-3), dillingham over cole iverson (26-8), bethel (dec 5-3)
125: gusty tunguing iv (21-6), koliganek over emery kirchner (34-11), seward (f 5:35)
130: ridge conant (35-4), seward over kaden vanbuskirk (31-8), valdez (f 3:08)
135: trestin houck (30-1), mountain city christian over logan beck (31-5), valdez (dec 2-0)
140: eben caulkins (18-9), redington over cache henning (24-5), unalaska (dec 11-10)
145: jackson carney (32-0), wrangell over conner cook (24-5), ketchikan (f 3:52)
152: jaxson young (27-5), nikiski over gunnar stanley (32-7), ketchikan (dec 5-4)
160: daniel steffensen (35-3), ketchikan over brady crotts (28-10), grace christian (tf 20-0 (5:36)
171: carson crotts (38-3), grace christian over nolan wald (26-5), haines (f 4:45)
189: william douglas (30-4), delta over carlos sandoval (25-4), mt. Edgecumbe (dec 13-10)
215: james stickler (25-1), haines over cody barnes (25-8), wrangell (md 15-7)
285: thaddeus lingenfelter (32-6), ketchikan over sioeli tuifua (17-5), barrow (f 1:53) |
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| CFP loss doesnt erase JMUs historic year |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Cfp loss doesn’t erase jmu’s historic year
eugene, ore. (Whsv) - james madison head coach bob chesney said before kickoff that the no. 12 dukes would need to play elite football to upset no. 5 oregon in the college football playoff.
they didn’t.
at least not consistently enough.
a lack of complementary football proved costly saturday night as jmu fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 51-34 loss to the ducks in a cfp opening-round game at autzen stadium.
while there were moments of resilience, especially late, the dukes were unable to match oregon’s explosiveness. Still, chesney said the result does little to diminish what his team accomplished during a historic season.
“i stood on the end zone there and made sure i gave every kid on this team a hug as they walked off this field,” chesney said. “The emotion runs deep just because these guys are guys that we shared this journey with for this year, sometimes even longer than that. It’s just sad to be ending it the way we just did.”
despite the loss, chesney said this team will be remembered for what it achieved, not how it finished.
this season, james madison won its first sun belt championship and its first conference title as an fbs program. The dukes also earned their first-ever berth in the college football playoff, finishing the season 12-2.
players echoed that sentiment after the game.
“this season was just special for a lot of us,” safety jacob thomas said. “The returning guys who stuck through the coaching change, not having the best season last year, and then doing what we did this year, it’s really special.”
for seniors who arrived together, the run carried added meaning.
“being able to come in as the class of 2022 and make something special here, especially in today’s world of college football, you don’t see that too much,” linebacker trent hendrick said. “To have bonds for four years and go out like this, i appreciate this team, these coaches and these players.”
quarterback alonza barnett said the achievements will endure long after the sting of the loss fades.
“when you look in the rearview mirror, that’s what makes things special,” barnett said. “Being a top 20 offense and defense, winning the first-ever sun belt championship. Those are things we’ll be proud of 25 or 50 years from now.”
chesney was also asked whether the ceiling remains high for the program moving forward after such a breakthrough season.
“absolutely,” he said.
but chesney will not be the one leading that next chapter. He is departing for ucla, marking the start of the billy napier era at james madison.
as indicated in his introductory press conference, napier is confident he can sustain success.
copyright 2025 whsv. All rights reserved. |
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| Armed with a wet suit and an ax, Renton rowers clear flood debris |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Members of the renton rowing center on lake washington traded oars for rakes and axes sunday afternoon, clearing logs and other flood debris from the cedar river that shut down the center earlier this month.
“i’ve got a wet suit and an ax — let’s see what we find,” said john harttrup, an aerospace engineer and one of around 50 volunteers clearing the debris-clogged channel next to the center’s dock, where the sleek racing shells normally launch.
located at the mouth of the cedar river, in the shadow of the boeing plant, the center offers racing and recreational rowing for adults and youth. But all activities were paused dec. 11 as floodwaters filled the southern part of lake washington with tons of logs and river silt.
center officials had anticipated flood impacts, “but we didn’t expect it to be at this level,” said cecilia krause, the center’s head coach, as she surveyed a small sea of flotsam that ranged from twigs and chips to what looked to be a misplaced telephone pole.
though none of the volunteers appeared to have flood cleanup or logging experience, they quickly organized themselves into what krause called an “assembly line.”
on the water, volunteers in plastic kayaks pushed and prodded logs and branches to the dock.
there, other volunteers used pitchforks and rakes and bare hands to land the wood, which was laboriously chainsawed into manageable sizes, carted to pickups in the parking lot and hauled to king county’s bow lake recycling & transfer station in tukwila.
various non-wood items were also retrieved, including a large, malodorous dead opossum.
volunteers included members of the center’s youth and adult teams and members of the wam dragonboat club, which rents space at the center, along with non-rowers from the community, said sabrina paulsen, the center’s executive director. Around 150 people use the center on a regular basis, paulsen said.
cleanup efforts were complicated by uncertainty over issues such as whether a permit was needed to remove debris from the water, or which governmental agency has jurisdiction over the location. Paulsen said the center contacted various state agencies, which claimed not to have jurisdiction.
she also reached out to renton city hall, where officials said the debris “was on their radar,” but that the city was focused on “other things, such as flood victims and people who have lost their houses or their entire business,” paulsen said.
“so that’s kind of where we had to take control of the situation,” she added.
paulsen and other volunteers were quick to acknowledge that the center’s flood impacts were minor compared to the much greater damage the flooding inflicted on residents and businesses elsewhere in the region.
“this is a pretty high-class problem — ‘oh, i’m having a hard time going rowing,” said dana parnello, maple valley city councilmember, who was pulling branches from the water. “We’re not digging out the basement of a senior citizens’ home that’s underwater.”
but parnello stressed that the rowing center is a community anchor, in part because it helps bring rowing to marginalized communities whose members might not otherwise encounter a team sport that can be deeply rewarding.
renton rowing center is “about putting anybody on the water, regardless of the background,” parnello said, adding that a cleanup effort like this helps to get “kids back on the water as quickly as possible.”
the center offers programs for kids of any experience level, from sixth-graders through high school, as well as need-based financial aid through the george pocock rowing foundation. Its rowing athletes participate in local and regional competitions.
pocock designed an eight-oared racing shell, the husky clipper, that the university of washington rowed to olympic gold in 1936. He also founded a seattle company that became the top builder of college racing shells. The foundation was started in 1984 with the goal of “improving access to rowing and empowering students to make healthier lifestyle choices,” according to the foundation’s website.
in 2014, pocock foundation funding helped launch the renton rowing club, which has since been reorganized as an independent nonprofit. |
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| Coloradan Joann Birsa Has Loved the Accordion for 80 Years |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Audio by carbonatix
josephine ann “joann” stevens birsa was four when she first heard the accordion, and it was love at first listen for the leadville girl.
“i just loved it,” the grandmother of four recalls. “And began begging for one. My parents couldn’t afford it and really, a four-year-old shouldn’t be trying to play anyway, because of the coordination of both hands and the bellows.”
but eventually, her parents made the girl’s dream come true. “By the time they could afford it, i was about ten and a half,” birsa says. “They found a really nice little accordion at a local jeweler’s.” Over two months, they paid a total of $100 to purchase the instrument she’d devote herself to for the next eight decades.
birsa’s parents were ethnic slovenians on both sides, and although the instrument was extremely popular in central europe, she was the first in her family to take up the accordion. “My mother’s family had the musical talent,” she recalls. “She took guitar lessons for a while when studying at the university of colorado boulder.”
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birsa herself studied with sister mary giovanni giacomini, a nun at leadville’s sisters of charity of leavenworth, and first performed onstage at the tabor opera house at age eleven. “I was scared to death, and shaking like a leaf,” she says.
but the stage fright faded, and (relatively) big money soon followed. “In 1954, just before seventh grade, the elks or eagles or some softball team had a picnic up at turquoise lake, and invited a number of kids to play,” birsa remembers. “They asked me to play longer and then passed around a hat. I got about $32, including some silver dollars that i still have today.”
birsa joined the high school band and took up tuba, which she played all through college at cu boulder, where she majored in music education and minored in russian language. After that, “i taught school for a year and a half, but by then i was married and pregnant with my oldest,” she says. “Back then, being pregnant was like a death knell for a teacher. You had to leave by the end of your fourth month unless you had tenure. You were damaged goods. I never taught school again.”
after raising three daughters, birsa seized the opportunity to go to grad school and earned her master’s in music performance (classical accordion, of course) from the university of denver’s lamont school of music in 1993. “I held a 4.0,” she says, laughing, “and my graduate recital took one and a half years to prepare. This was not playing oompahpah.”
while accordion music has largely fallen out of favor in the united states, you can listen to classic accordion masters like charles magnante (a favorite of birsa) on spotify, or catch local darlings devotchka at the boulder theater on february 14, 2026. Or birsa at denver’s christkindl market, where she’ll be on december 22.
birsa continues to teach privately — “i’ve had students from eight to eighty,” she says — and perform publicly, wielding her titano emperor at events like georgetown’s christmas festival, oktoberfests and the christkindl market. She plays sitting down these days, with a “roadie” (usually one of her daughters) helping to strap on the heavy instrument.
“it’s kind of hard for me to do a lot,” birsa admits. “My body is not in good shape, but my mind is. I still have all my marbles, and i do enjoy getting out to play, especially for kids. They come and dance and have a good time with their parents, and that’s the best. Because people are so friendly. Give them a little bit of peppy music. And it makes them happy.”
master accordionist joann birsa will perform from 2 to 4 p.M. Monday, december 22, at denver christkindl market on the tivoli quad, 1000 larimer street on the auraria campus. |
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| Husband Told His Wife, You Have Nothing In Court-Then The Judge Opened A Secret |
| Posted on Monday, December 22 @ 00:01:04 PST (0 reads) | |
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Off the record
husband told his wife, “you have nothing” in court—then the judge opened a secret folder
by
the rain in seattle doesn’t wash things clean; it just makes the grime stick harder to the pavement. That was the thought cycling through my mind as i stepped out of the uber and onto the sidewalk in front of the king county courthouse. The building loomed above me, a monolith of gray stone and indifferent justice.
i clutched noah closer to my chest. At six months old, he was a warm, solid weight against my heart, the only thing tethering me to the earth. He was asleep, his eyelashes fluttering against his pale cheeks, blissfully unaware that his mother was about to walk into a room and fight for his future.
inside, the air smelled of floor wax, damp wool, and stale anxiety. It is a specific scent, one you only learn when your life is being dismantled by paperwork and strangers.
my lawyer, a woman named sarah with hair the color of steel wool and eyes that missed nothing, met me by the security checkpoint. She didn’t smile—she never smiled when she was working—but she squeezed my shoulder.
“ready?” She asked.
“no,” i whispered.
“good,” she said. “Fear keeps you sharp. Let’s go.”
the slow erosion of a woman
to understand why i was shaking in that hallway, you have to understand the girl i was before eric harris.
i wasn’t always quiet. In college, i was the one who organized the rallies. I was the graphic designer who stayed up until 4:00 am perfecting a portfolio piece. I had a laugh that filled rooms. I met eric during my senior year. He was charming, ambitious, and older. He had a plan for everything. He made me feel safe.
but safety, i learned, can be a velvet trap.
the erosion was slow. It didn’t happen with shouting or bruises. It happened with a credit card declined at a coffee shop.
“i just lowered the limit, maya,” he had told me, laughing as if i were a child. “You’ve been spending too much on lattes. We’re saving for the future.”
i laughed along. It made sense. He was the finance guy; i was the artist.
then came the wedding. Then the move to the suburbs. Then the isolation.
“you don’t need to work, babe,” he said the day i got a promotion offer. “My bonus this year is more than you make in three. Why stress? I’ll take care of everything. You just make the house a home.”
it sounded like a gift. It was actually a cage.
i quit my job. I lost touch with my work friends. We moved to a suburb where the houses were big and the neighbors kept to themselves. By the time i was pregnant with noah, i had to ask for money to buy prenatal vitamins.
the grocery store incident that changed everything
the breaking point wasn’t an explosion. It was a humiliating tuesday at whole foods.
i was eight months pregnant. My ankles were swollen, and my back ached. I had filled the cart with the specific organic vegetables eric demanded for his dinners. At the checkout, i added a magazine—a design journal i hadn’t read in years. It was six dollars.
the card declined.
the cashier, a teenager snapping gum, looked at me with pity. “It says ‘not authorized,’ ma’am.”
my phone buzzed. A text from eric. “I see you’re at the store. The grocery budget is strictly $150 this week. Put the magazine back. We talked about this.”
he was tracking the spending in real-time.
i stood there, pregnant and red-faced, while the line behind me sighed. I handed the magazine to the cashier. I walked out to the car and cried for an hour. That was the day the love died. That was the day i realized i wasn’t his partner; i was his employee, and a poorly paid one at that.
the secret of nana rose
but eric made one miscalculation. He thought i had no one. He forgot about nana rose.
my grandmother was a woman of few words who lived in a dusty house in ohio. She wore cardigans with holes in the elbows and reused tea bags. When my parents died in a car crash when i was twenty, she took me in.
she hated eric. She never said it, but she refused to let him pay for dinner when we visited. She watched him with sharp, bird-like eyes.
when she passed away eight months ago, right before noah was born, i was devastated. I couldn’t even afford the flight to the funeral. Eric said it was “too expensive right now.” I grieved alone in our guest room.
two weeks later, i received a phone call from a man named mr. Henderson. He was nana rose’s attorney.
“mrs. Harris,” he had said. “I need to speak with you. Alone. It regards the estate.”
i almost laughed. Nana rose lived on social security. What estate?
but i met him. I told eric i was going to a breastfeeding support group. Instead, i sat in a diner booth with mr. Henderson.
he slid a binder across the table.
“your grandmother was a very frugal woman,” he began. “And she was a very savvy investor. She bought stock in the 1960s and never sold. She owned commercial real estate in columbus that has been leased to a logistics company for thirty years.”
i opened the binder. The numbers didn’t make sense. There were too many commas.
“she knew your situation,” mr. Henderson said gently. “She called me a week before she died. She was worried about your husband. She structured this explicitly. It is a blind trust. It is separate property. It is not commingled with your marital assets. As long as you keep it in this trust, he cannot touch it.”
i sat in that diner, smelling like spit-up and fear, and realized my grandmother had just handed me a key.
i kept the secret. I hid the paperwork in the lining of my diaper bag. I played the part of the obedient wife for four more months, waiting for the trust to finalize, waiting for the courage to leave.
the man i married was a stranger in a suit
now, in the courtroom, eric stood by the defendant’s table. He was wearing the navy blue italian suit i had picked up from the dry cleaners for him a hundred times. He looked immaculate. His hair was perfectly gelled, his posture relaxed.
when eric saw me, his expression didn’t change. He didn’t look at noah. He looked through me. It was the look he had perfected over the last three years—a look that said i was furniture.
i sat down next to sarah.
“he’s going to go for the throat,” sarah whispered. “He wants to crush you so you don’t ask for alimony.”
“i don’t want his alimony,” i said.
“i know. But he doesn’t know that.”
the proceedings began with the dry rustle of paper. The judge, an older woman named judge halloway who looked like she had seen every variety of human misery, peered over her spectacles.
“we are here to determine preliminary custody and asset division,” judge halloway said. Her voice was gravel. “Mr. Harris, you may speak.”
eric stood up. He didn’t just stand; he performed. He buttoned his jacket with a flourish.
“your honor,” eric began, his voice smooth. “This is a simple case. I am the sole provider. I have built a substantial life for my family. My wife…” he paused, letting the word hang in the air like an insult. “My wife has not contributed financially to this marriage in five years. She has no income. She has no career prospects. She has no assets.”
i shrank in my seat. Noah stirred in my arms, letting out a soft whimper. I rocked him gently.
eric turned his head, locking eyes with me. There was no love there. Only cold calculation.
“i am requesting full custody of our son,” eric continued. “It is irresponsible to leave a child with a woman who cannot even afford to feed herself. She has no plan. She is unstable. I have retained a nanny to help me, but maya… maya is simply not equipped to survive in the real world.”
gasps rippled through the small audience in the gallery.
my face burned. I wanted to scream that i was the one up at 3:00 am while eric slept with earplugs. I wanted to scream that i managed the household on a shoestring budget while he bought golf clubs. But i stayed silent.
the insult that sealed his fate
eric wasn’t done. He felt he was winning. He felt the power of the room tilting toward him. He wanted to twist the knife.
he pointed a manicured finger straight at me—at me, clutching our sleeping baby.
“take your kid and get out,” he said, his voice cutting through the silence of the courtroom. “You have nothing. You’ve always had nothing without me. You are a burden i have carried for too long.”
the room froze.
it was a shock of pure cruelty. Even his own lawyer looked uncomfortable, reaching out to touch eric’s arm to silence him.
i heard a clerk whisper, “oh my god.”
judge halloway’s eyes narrowed. The boredom vanished from her face, replaced by a sharp, dangerous focus.
i looked down at noah. His tiny hand was curled around the fabric of my blouse. He trusted me. He didn’t know his father thought we were worthless.
in that moment, the fear that had been choking me for years evaporated. It was replaced by a cold, hard resolve. Eric thought he had stripped me of everything. He thought i was the same girl who cried in the car at whole foods.
he was wrong.
the judge takes control
the judge cleared her throat. It sounded like a gavel strike.
“mr. Harris,” judge halloway said, her voice dangerously low. “You will mind your tone in my courtroom. This is a court of law, not your living room. Sit down.”
eric blinked, surprised by the reprimand. He shrugged, a gesture of arrogance, and sat. He still looked smug. He still believed the narrative he had constructed: i was the leech, and he was the host.
judge halloway turned her gaze to my table. “Counsel for the respondent?”
sarah stood up. She didn’t have eric’s flash. She didn’t button her jacket. She simply picked up a thick, manila folder.
“your honor,” sarah said, her voice calm and steady. “My client disputes the characterization of her financial instability. In fact, before we discuss custody or the division of marital assets, there is a matter of material evidence that needs to be submitted regarding my client’s current solvency.”
eric scoffed audibly. “What solvency? She has a maxed-out credit card in my name.”
“silence,” the judge snapped.
sarah walked to the bench. She handed the folder to the bailiff, who passed it up to the judge.
the room was silent, save for the sound of rain lashing against the high windows. I watched eric. He was checking his watch. He was bored. He thought this was a delay tactic.
judge halloway opened the folder.
she adjusted her glasses. She read the first page. Then she flipped to the second. She stopped. She looked closer, as if she couldn’t believe what was written there. She looked up at me, then back at the paper, then over at eric.
the silence stretched. It grew heavy. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.
eric frowned. The confidence began to seep out of his posture. “What is it?” He asked, forgetting protocol.
judge halloway closed the folder. She rested her hands on top of it.
“mrs. Harris,” the judge said, addressing me directly for the first time. “This inheritance was finalized two weeks ago?”
“yes, your honor,” i said. My voice was small, but steady.
eric’s head snapped toward me. “Inheritance? What inheritance? Nana rose didn’t have a pot to piss in.”
the reveal of the 4.2 million
judge halloway glared at eric for the vulgarity, but she continued addressing the court.
“according to these documents,” the judge said, speaking clearly and deliberately, “mrs. Harris is the sole beneficiary of the estate of rose miller. This estate has been held in a blind trust until the completion of probate.”
eric rolled his eyes. “Great. So she has five thousand dollars from her grandma’s mattress. That doesn’t change the fact that i support this family.”
the judge ignored him. She put her reading glasses back on.
“the estate includes two fully paid commercial properties in downtown columbus, ohio. A diversified blue-chip stock portfolio held since 1965. And a liquid cash trust currently deposited in the respondent’s separate account.”
the judge paused for effect.
“the total value of the assets legally transferred to mrs. Harris two weeks ago is just over four point two million dollars.”
the sound in the courtroom was absolute silence. It was the kind of silence that happens after a car crash.
someone in the back row gasped.
eric’s face drained of color. It happened instantly. One moment he was flushed with arrogance, the next he was ash-gray. His mouth opened, but no words came out. He looked like a fish on a dock.
“that… that’s not possible,” he stammered, his voice cracking. He looked at his lawyer, who looked equally stunned. “She never mentioned… she lies! She’s lying! She hid assets!”
“she wasn’t required to disclose it to you,” the judge replied coolly. “Since the inheritance was received after the date of separation filing, and kept in a separate trust that was never commingled with marital funds, it is strictly non-marital property. However, that is a matter for a later hearing. For today’s purpose—custody—it changes everything.”
the shift in power
i watched eric. I watched the man who had controlled every penny i spent for five years. I watched the man who forced me to return a pair of shoes because they were “too indulgent.”
he looked like he was going to be sick. He was doing mental math, realizing that the woman he called a burden was now worth four times his net worth.
“this is a mistake,” eric whispered, standing up, his hands shaking. “She… she was a stay-at-home mom. She’s dependent on me. This is ridiculous! I demand to see those papers!”
“sit down, mr. Harris!” The judge barked.
he sat. He collapsed into his chair, really.
judge halloway looked at me. There was a glimmer of respect in her eyes now.
“mrs. Harris is not financially dependent on you, sir,” the judge stated. “In fact, based on the financial disclosures you submitted regarding your own debt-to-income ratio, mrs. Harris is significantly more liquid and financially stable than you are.”
eric’s lawyer put his head in his hands. He knew the case was dead.
“now,” the judge said, shifting her papers. “Regarding custody.”
she looked at eric with open disdain.
“mr. Harris, your behavior in this courtroom has been appalling. You have demonstrated a lack of respect for the mother of your child, and frankly, a lack of emotional stability. Your outburst—telling a mother holding an infant to ‘get out’ because of money—is noted for the record.”
i felt sarah squeeze my hand under the table. “We got him,” she whispered.
“given the mother’s demonstrated stability, her ability to provide, and the father’s volatile demeanor,” the judge continued, “i am granting primary physical custody to mrs. Harris, effective immediately.”
i felt my knees go weak. The breath i had been holding for months finally released. I kissed the top of noah’s head.
“mr. Harris,” the judge added, leaning forward. “You will have visitation every other weekend, supervised, until you complete an anger management evaluation. You will also pay child support, calculated based on your income.”
eric’s mouth opened. “Child support? But she has millions!”
“child support is the right of the child, mr. Harris,” the judge said icily. “It is based on your income, not hers. You will pay your share.”
the desperate scramble
the gavel banged. It was the sweetest sound i had ever heard.
as the hearing ended, people whispered as they filed out. The court clerks looked at me with awe. I stood up, adjusting noah in my arms. He was still sleeping, peaceful and heavy.
eric was standing by the door. He looked deflated. His suit suddenly looked like a costume he was wearing to play a part he didn’t understand.
he tried to block my path.
“maya,” he said. His voice was quiet, stripped of all its bluster. It was the voice he used when he wanted something. “Maya, wait. We need to talk.”
i stopped. I didn’t back down. I looked him in the eye.
“four million?” He whispered, his eyes darting around. “Is that real? Look, babe, we can fix this. I was just… i was stressed. The lawyers make you say mean things. You know i love you. We’re a family. Think about noah.”
he reached out to touch my arm. The old maya would have flinched. The old maya might have even hesitated, desperate for his approval.
but the old maya was gone.
i stepped back.
“i am thinking about noah,” i said calmly. “That’s why i’m leaving.”
“you can’t just walk away,” he pleaded, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. “We have a history. I took care of you!”
“you controlled me,” i corrected. “You made me beg for grocery money. You made me feel small so you could feel big. And eric?”
“what?”
“you were right about one thing,” i said, feeling the ghost of a smile on my lips. “I did have nothing. But now? I have everything you can never touch.”
i walked past him. I walked out of the heavy oak doors, through the security checkpoint, and out into the seattle rain.
the aftermath: a new life
the months that followed were a whirlwind, but a good one.
eric didn’t give up easily. He tried everything. He sent flowers—huge, expensive bouquets that i donated to a nursing home. He sent long, rambling emails about how he was a changed man, how money didn’t matter to him (a lie so transparent it was laughable).
he even had his mother call me.
she called on a tuesday, her voice dripping with false sweetness.
“maya, darling,” she said. “Eric is devastated. He made a mistake. Surely you can forgive him? You have all this money now… you could buy a beautiful house for the three of you. It’s what a good wife would do.”
i was standing in the kitchen of the rental house i had moved into—a bright, airy bungalow near the water. I looked out the window at noah playing on a playmat.
“i’m not his wife anymore, barbara,” i said. “And i’m not his bank account. Tell eric to call his lawyer if he wants to speak to me.”
i hung up. It felt incredible.
i bought a house. Not a mansion, but a sturdy, beautiful craftsman in a neighborhood with good schools. I put a studio in the back where i started painting again. I reached out to my old design contacts. I didn’t need the money, but i needed the work. I needed to reclaim the artist eric had tried to bury.
the final meeting
six months after the court date, we met to sign the final divorce decree.
we sat in a conference room. Eric looked tired. His suit was wrinkled. He had lost weight.
he looked at the papers. He looked at me.
“i really messed up,” he said quietly.
“yes,” i said. “You did.”
“i didn’t know you were strong,” he admitted. “I thought you needed me.”
“i thought i needed you too,” i said. “But that was the lie you told me until i believed it.”
he signed the papers. He slid them across the table.
“so, what are you going to do now?” He asked. “Travel? Buy a boat?”
i picked up the pen. I signed my name—maya miller. I had taken my maiden name back.
“i’m going to raise my son,” i said. “I’m going to teach him that kindness is strength. And i’m going to make sure he never, ever treats a woman the way you treated me.”
i stood up. I didn’t look back.
i walked out to my car—a reliable volvo i had bought with my own money. I strapped noah into his car seat. He giggled, grabbing my finger.
“da-da?” He asked, babbling.
“we’re going home, baby,” i said. “Just us.”
i drove away. I drove past the courthouse where i had been terrified. I drove past the grocery store where i had been humiliated. I drove past the old house where i had been a prisoner.
and as i turned onto the street toward my new home, i thought of nana rose. I thought of her quiet strength. I thought of the dusty binders and the secret savings.
she had given me money, yes. But more than that, she had given me a choice.
eric thought i had nothing. But in the end, i walked away with the only things that mattered: my dignity, my son, and my freedom.
and four million dollars didn’t hurt, either.
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