In 2014 my soulmate, Amy, was diagnosed with cancer. The news felt like a vine wrapped itself around our necks strangling us. Scared and confused, our lives were like dry cracked earth. Operations, chemotherapy, and doctors appointments stole the air from our lives. Cancer invaded our garden.

One day, with the sunrise visiting through the kitchen window, I walked to the window, looked down upon the dry cracked earth, called for Amy and our two daughters Karis and Lily, pointed down at that patch of earth, and said, “Let’s cultivate a garden there. Each morning we can wake up and look out of this window at a garden that will remind us that we’ve chosen to focus on growth.” After two days we planted a garden.

As we tended the garden, I noticed the garden teaches many great lessons about life. The more I learned about these lessons the more I was drawn to share them with you through growth based interpretations of books and inspirational talks.

This website is designed to offer my takes on books which will nourish the spirits of people who provide classroom instruction #Read2Grow. We will also produce #growthTALKS which will help grow educators’ philosophy and practices.