It all begins with a story. . .

I had just gotten my training wheels off my bike when my father and brother asked me to ride around our neighborhood. The year was 1977 and I was six.

When we came to the first hill on our journey, my bike coasted down with a mind of its own. There was a lump in my throat, but I wanted to prove to my older brother that I could keep up.
The second hill brought all of my courage to a standstill.

I stared down the hill and I just couldn't get my feet on the pedals. By this time my brother and father were both at the bottom of the hill looking up at me. It seemed like they were really tiny.

My father yelled, "C'mon Tim you can do it" while my brother was yelling at me about being a baby. Even though I didn't want to do it, actually every part of me was screaming not to do it, I pulled my sneakers from the pavement onto the pedals. Balancing, teetering on two wheels, gravity finally took over and I started rolling. Immediately, I started screeching.

The hardest part of any endeavor is putting your feet on the pedals. Once you finally make the decision to do something, often times, you can just let gravity take over. It's like what Woody Allen said about life being 99% about just showing up.

Here is the first posting for Video Laundry. The power of the story has been forgotten by many, but we (Tim and Joanna) are bringing it back. Everyday we work with people- families and businesses- to help tell their stories and capture them on video. This is what we are going to focus on.

We are unfolding the laundry (some of it dirty, some of it clean) of our lives and, hopefully, encouraging you to do the same. We will focus on stories, video technology, web promotion and family.

Oh, I never finished my story. About halfway down the hill, I panicked, stuck my feet in the air and listened to my brother jeer me with jabs about my six year old masculinity. My father calmly set his bike down, stepped in front of me and lifted me off in his arms. The bike went hurtling into the underbrush and the tears fell down my cheeks. My father calmed me.

Sometimes, with any new challenge, we need people to step up and help us.