Why The Things We Collect Often Tell A Story About Who We Are
By Paul E. Skidmore III, Hillsborough County, FL The shoebox test Everyone has a shoebox somewhere. Mine happens to have sports cards in it, and a closet with sneakers lined up like they’re waiting for an inspection. I didn’t set out to build either collection. It just happened, one purchase at a time, over years, […]
Raising Good Men In A World That Doesn’t Always Make It Easy
By Paul E. Skidmore III, Hillsborough County, FL The question I ask myself more than any other Every parent I know worries about keeping their kids safe, fed, and doing okay in school. Fewer people talk about the harder question underneath that: what kind of man is this kid actually going to become. That question […]
What Years Behind A Bar Taught Me About People, Patience, And Trust
By Paul E. Skidmore III, Hillsborough County, FL The job nobody thinks trains you for anything People hear “bartender” and think of drinks, tips, late nights. They don’t think about the part where you’re reading a stranger’s mood in three seconds flat, or deciding who needs a joke and who needs to be left alone. […]
Why Showing Up Matters More Than Being Perfect as a Parent
By Paul Skidmore III, HIllsborough County, FL I Stopped Chasing the Idea of a Perfect Parent If you had asked me before I became a father what kind of parent I wanted to be, I probably would have described someone who always had the right answer. I imagined a dad who knew exactly what to […]
The Lessons Youth Sports Taught Me About Leadership, Parenting, and Life
By Paul Skidmore III, HIllsborough County, FL Sports Were My First Classroom When I look back on my childhood, I don’t remember many long conversations about how to handle life’s challenges. I was a latchkey kid, and like a lot of kids growing up in Tampa, I spent more time figuring things out than having […]