Joe Battista

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    America At 250: I’m (Still) Proud to Be an American

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    Joe Battista

    I’m about to celebrate my “Mario Lemieux” birthday (my Yinzer friends will know my age immediately), and I continue to be bullish on the American Dream. Despite our flaws as a nation, I’m still proud to be an American.   I also believe we can do even better in the next 250 years if we are…

  • Battista: In Marriage, ‘Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard’

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    Joe Battista

    Picture these recent conversations in our retirement community in Sun City: A softball friend: “Hey buddy, we are meeting some other couples at AL’s on Friday night for dinner. You and Heidi want to join us?”  Me: “Thanks for the invite, but my wife and I are attending a marriage conference at our church.”  The…

  • Battista: What Really Grinds My Gears

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    Joe Battista

    “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble / But I’m doin’ the best that I can!” – Mac Davis My wife and I have put almost 20,000 miles on our new Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid since December. The good news is it practically drives itself, it really does get great gas mileage, is a quiet…

  • Battista: Remember to Eat the Heart of the Watermelon 

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    Joe Battista

    Can I ask you a personal question? Do you wake up every morning and start your day by counting your blessings and giving thanks for another day? Do you periodically make a list of the people in your life that you need to reach out to just to say your life is better because they…

  • Battista: What To Do Next – Revisited

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    Joe Battista

    “Dream Big! Keep it Real. Get it Done!” – Joe Battista, From The Power of Pragmatic Passion It’s graduation season, and you know what that means? It’s time for my periodic “Pragmatic Passion” message to those of you who have kids, relatives or friends still undecided about what to do after high school or college…

  • Battista: The True Golf God 

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    Joe Battista

    “What I’m doing here at 7:30 this morning is far more important than what Scottie and I do at 1:50 this afternoon.” – Ted Scott, PGA Caddie If you’ve ever golfed, you know there are times when you make a good swing that gets a bad bounce and ends up in a trap, or a…

  • Battista: Our Last Easter At MeeMaw and PapPap’s

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    Joe Battista

    I recently wrote a column titled ”Farewell, Home Sweet Home” about my emotions surrounding my parents putting my childhood home on the market. Well, it got real, real fast last weekend. The house is now under contract and my parents move into their new senior apartment is just around the corner.  Suddenly the realization became…

  • Battista: Hope Springs Eternal

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    Joe Battista

    Spring has officially arrived and not too soon for a beleaguered Midwest and Northeast. While my wife and I enjoyed a much milder winter in Bluffton, South Carolina, even we had some below-average temps in January including a couple inches of snow, a rarity here in the Lowcountry. That’s why on March 20, we joyously…

  • Battista: Farewell, Home Sweet Home

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    Joe Battista

    “A house without love is not a home”— Hank Williams Most of us have heard some musical or literary version of the saying, “a house without love is not a home.” My experiences have taught me that a house is just a dwelling. But a home is a slice of life. A house is a…

  • Happiness Is Fleeting. Joy Is Lasting

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    Joe Battista

    “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say, ‘Rejoice!’”- Philippians 4:4 (NIV) I can’t remember when I first heard the saying, “Happiness is fleeting. Joy is lasting.” I don’t remember who said it either, but since then I have heard it in countless seminars, church sermons and Bible studies again and again, and I…