How My Life and Career Changed in 45 Minutes Just Before Christmas

Many of you remember what happened to me at last year's Broadcast Conference in Milwaukee. On Wednesday morning, I gave a presentation on my 34 year broadcast career in Wisconsin, then I raced back to Madison to help cover our biggest severe weather outbreak of the year that afternoon because our station was short-staffed. It's some of the stuff that we all deal with to some extent in our jobs. Later last summer, my contract was expiring, we had meteorologists who were leaving, we were hiring and training new employees, and all the while dealing with the daily challenges of the weather. But on Saturday, December 10th, in 45 minutes late that afternoon, everything became secondary when my wife of more than 26 years passed away unexpectedly as we were about to go out for dinner. I'd like to speak about how my life and career changed that day, and what I have learned from the experience. It's only been a few months, but there are lessons to be learned from what happened to me, and how the station and I moved forward since that tragic day.