Successful transition planning begins with a first and formal transition conversation, and how the first conversation goes often sets the stage for the entire process. Get off on a good foot, and the entire process is smoother.

Every year, Christmas time seems to roll around a bit faster than the year prior. As a child, waiting for the elusive Dec. 25 seemed to stretch an eternity, whereas now the costly and busy holiday seems to come around faster than ever before.

If there exists a chink in my armor, a crack in my carefully curated veneer of manliness, it is sentimentality. Truth be told, it’s less a chink and more a gaping hole that leaves all my vital organs unprotected.

I led the freshly shod and saddled little buckskin mare around the front of the pickup and back to the trailer. I smiled to myself as she jumped up into the trailer, and I casually slammed the door shut.

It has been said that everyone should have two exit plans. One for where they control each of the circumstances, including their health, timing, business cycles, needs of the next generation, etc. and another plan for when the circumstances are the boss.