When I came up with this phrase years ago, it unfortunately accurately reflected my attitude about having little appreciation for patience and very little belief that patience is a virtue. My self-indulgent quip usually would get a laugh or maybe a quizzical expression from those within earshot. The sad thing, however, is that I really believed it.

When my dad's health was in decline, I found myself consumed with thoughts of his health and the emotional effect it was having on him and my mom. I constantly projected scenarios of what must be going on during their day, what my dad was feeling about his illness, what my mom was feeling about seeing Dad-the family's "rock"-failing. Basically, I always prepared myself mentally for the worst-case situation.

Like most kids growing up in the 1950's and 1960's, I played a lot of sports. After school. All day on weekends. In the rain and snow. Even in the dark. Over nearly 20 years of playing organized sports, I must have had ten coaches tell me and my teammates, "There is no ‘I' in the word team." To succeed, they'd say, always put you second and the team first.