To be honest, I was worried that with inflation inflating the prices of sports balls the number of gifts given to “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” would be deflated compared to years past.

            How happily wrong I was!

Before revealing this year’s finally tally, here are some more Most Valuable Philanthropists…

Nick Sarris donated 34 balls “in memory of baby Sienna” and Rebecca Fox gave two “in honor of Arlys Tuttle’s recent 100th birthday!”

Scott and Randi Harris gave six balls, noting: “We love to think of children running, playing and laughing – maybe even forgetting about some of the unfair challenges, if only for a little while.”

Ann Cowan continued her late husband Jim’s annual tradition by giving 10 basketballs and legendary basketball coaches Joe Vaughan Mickey Perry also gave 10.

Sandra Janotta donated six balls; Ethel Yim gave five; Bob Vrtis, four; Jane Eller, three, Steve and Bobbin Yarbrough, two; and the Robles family gave one.

Susan Adamich gave one ball; Christine Weidenheimer, two; Doris Brown, three; Rick and Lucie Estberg, four; Judy Magee Windle, five; and Richard Bergman donated six.

Charla and Tom Mooney gave 23 balls “in honor of our 23 grandchildren” and Mary Samples similarly gave one ball each in honor of her three grandchildren.

Chuck and Ann Elliott similarly gave 10 balls “in honor of the young people who may be inspired by them to pursue their dreams in life” and Steve McFadden donated four balls in memory of his dad, Harold.

The Hein family – Chris, Julie, Audrey and Howie – gave two balls; Anna and Tom McBreen did likewise; and so did Cristina Kildee. Ken and Elaine Lyle, and their grandsons Josh and Corbin, also gave two balls.

The Clayton Family – Denny, Peggi and Paige – donated three balls, as did Tim and Peggy Hughes.

An anonymous donor gave 24 balls “in memory Gary, who believed youth sports were essential in building confidence, sportsmanship and discipline; all characteristics that benefit not only the individual, but society in general.”

Jan and Tom Lewis gave ten basketballs “in memory of Charlie Feyh, coach of the Ventura Nets girls basketball teams; and Rick Masterson, former announcer for Buena High girls basketball.”

Lynne and Don Steensma donated eight balls, as did Dan and Judy Dugan; Bobbie and Dave Williams gave six, as did Kathleen Selmer; and Sheila and Vivienne Raives gave five, as did Sol Chooljian and Laura McAvoy.

Margie Chespak and Jim Tankersley donated a dozen balls “in memory of Pete Ackermann, a wonderful, godly man and Oaks Christian legend” and one ball was given anonymously “in memory of Armando Luna.”

Wendy Spasiano donated 19 balls; Jeff and Anne Barks gave a baker’s dozen; Brad and Mia Ditto gave 11; Karen and Dave Brooks gave 10, as did Joann Cooper; Shelly and Steve Brown gave five; David and Shelley Cole gave four; and Tom and Karyne Roweton gave two.

Patrons of The Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks donated 79 balls and Camarillo Somis and Pleasant Valley Lions Club gave 122 more.

In another shared effort, 220 balls were given by a group of family members and friends who wished to only have their first names used: Alma, Aric and Margarita, Allen and Alast, Rachel and Michael, Emma, Rick and Nancy, Shaun and Ruth, Andy and Connie, Christine and Tyler, Alma and Tomas, Juan; Mike and Claudia, Phil and Charlene, Steve and MaryKay, John and Kellie, Debbie, Will, Maddie, Pam, Dave, Lane, Michelle and Michael, Rose and Jace, Achilles and Caren, Ron and Anita, and Ricky and Beverly.

John and Sharon Onyshko, with the help of their grandchildren – Gage Redwine; and Colton, Charlotte and Maverick Onyshko – donated 14 balls while Dody Blankenburg took her two granddaughters, Bowie Ryan and Reagan James Smallwood, to pick out four balls.

 Jim and Sandie Arthur gave a dozen “in honor of our beloved daughters and three grown grandchildren” and Allison Johnson gave two balls “in honor my brother, Michael Demeter.”

 “In honor and loving memory of our brother and cousin, Michael Kendlinger,” Brandon and Tommy Kendlinger, and Elijah Ontiveros, donated 18 balls while Leslie Seifert-De Los Santos, son Nicholas, and family gave 10 balls “in remembrance of Manuel De Los Santos.”

An anonymous donor gave “eleven basketballs in memory of Karen, Larry, Suz, Jeanie, John, James, Eric, Keith, Rich, Louise, Becky – and a twelfth in honor of everyone who is currently fighting cancer.” Four and two more balls were also given anonymously.

Ken and Kathy McAlpine gave three balls; Greg and Jess Woodburn gave two; and a dozen balls came from a married couple who wished to anonymously “spread some love.”

An abundance of love was indeed spread this year in the form of 1,038 young holiday smiles, smashing last year’s previous record ball total of 891.

“My beloved mom told me,” former Rhodes Scholar Pat Haden once shared with me, “that the words ‘thank you’ are the most powerful words in the English language.”

To each and everyone who helped spread the love by giving one ball, or many, I say most earnestly, “Thank you!”

Chase butterflies.

          When asked to write a brief essay on the topic “A Letter Of Advice To My 21-Year-Old Self,” that was my answer in a nutshell: Chase butterflies.

            As we toe the starting line for a new lap around the sun in 2023, it seems to me that chasing butterflies is timely counsel for all ages, old and young, not just 21. Let me explain.

Even though Spring is a fair ways off, turning the calendar page from December to January always brings to my mind a butterfly emerging from its cocoon: the caterpillar’s past has been shed and left behind and the world is fresh and full of promise.

Moreover, most butterflies emerge in the morning – again, the image of a new year’s rosy beginning. Indeed, New Year’s resolutions are goals for a personal metamorphosis of sorts.

            But my prescription to chase butterflies is more than metaphorical. Remember in your youth when you raced, wielding a long-handled net, after Monarchs or Swallowtails? Few images of girlhood or boyhood are more carefree.

Perhaps you did not even catch any butterflies. That didn’t even matter because the joy was in the running, in the sport of it, in the zig-zagging through a field until you were out of breath – the breathlessness, in part, from laughing at your “failure” to catch the elusive flittering prey.

            Lesson from the child: when was the last time you laughed off “failure” instead of letting it deflate you like a punctured tire? To be sure, we would all do well to pursue our adult endeavors with the same sense of joy and play we did while racing barefooted in the summer grass in happy pursuit of rainbow-winged flying flower.

            Chasing butterflies means going outside your safe cocoon of a comfort zone. Ernest Hemingway once told a friend, who kept putting off undertaking a challenging task because he had never tried it before: “What’s that got to do with it? I had no experience writing a novel until I wrote the first one.”

As the Roman poet Virgil noted, “Fortune favors the bold.” Fortune favors butterfly chasers, say I.

In that essay letter to my 21-year-old college self, I wrote: “Remember the swarm of butterflies doing cartwheels in your stomach the first time you asked out that gorgeous girl you are now dating? Spoiler alert, Woody – that works out marvelously even 42 years later!”

Mark Twain wisely put it thusly: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

He might have well added: Do things that make the butterflies in your belly take flight.

So throw off your bowlines in 2023. Learn a new language. Take guitar lessons. Enroll in a painting class. Train for a marathon. Try surfing. Climb Mount Whitney. Write that novel you have long felt you have inside you. Ask someone on a date – or accept the invite. Chase your dreams. Travel. Explore. Go sailing. Go for it!

            I closed my letter to my younger self with John Wooden’s “7-Point Creed,” which I consider to be concise wisdom of great breadth and depth: “Be true to yourself. Make each day your masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.”

            And I concluded with an eighth point: Chase butterflies.

*   *   *

Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

To be honest, I was worried that with inflation inflating the prices of sports balls the number of gifts given to “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” would be deflated compared to years past.

            How happily wrong I was!

Before revealing this year’s finally tally, here are some more Most Valuable Philanthropists…

Nick Sarris donated 34 balls “in memory of baby Sienna” and Rebecca Fox gave two “in honor of Arlys Tuttle’s recent 100th birthday!”

Scott and Randi Harris gave six balls, noting: “We love to think of children running, playing and laughing – maybe even forgetting about some of the unfair challenges, if only for a little while.”

Ann Cowan continued her late husband Jim’s annual tradition by giving 10 basketballs and legendary basketball coaches Joe Vaughan Mickey Perry also gave 10.

Sandra Janotta donated six balls; Ethel Yim gave five; Bob Vrtis, four; Jane Eller, three, Steve and Bobbin Yarbrough, two; and the Robles family gave one.

Susan Adamich gave one ball; Christine Weidenheimer, two; Doris Brown, three; Rick and Lucie Estberg, four; Judy Magee Windle, five; and Richard Bergman donated six.

Charla and Tom Mooney gave 23 balls “in honor of our 23 grandchildren” and Mary Samples similarly gave one ball each in honor of her three grandchildren.

Chuck and Ann Elliott similarly gave 10 balls “in honor of the young people who may be inspired by them to pursue their dreams in life” and Steve McFadden donated four balls in memory of his dad, Harold.

The Hein family – Chris, Julie, Audrey and Howie – gave two balls; Anna and Tom McBreen did likewise; and so did Cristina Kildee. Ken and Elaine Lyle, and their grandsons Josh and Corbin, also gave two balls.

The Clayton Family – Denny, Peggi and Paige – donated three balls, as did Tim and Peggy Hughes.

An anonymous donor gave 24 balls “in memory Gary, who believed youth sports were essential in building confidence, sportsmanship and discipline; all characteristics that benefit not only the individual, but society in general.”

Jan and Tom Lewis gave ten basketballs “in memory of Charlie Feyh, coach of the Ventura Nets girls basketball teams; and Rick Masterson, former announcer for Buena High girls basketball.”

Lynne and Don Steensma donated eight balls, as did Dan and Judy Dugan; Bobbie and Dave Williams gave six, as did Kathleen Selmer; and Sheila and Vivienne Raives gave five, as did Sol Chooljian and Laura McAvoy.

Margie Chespak and Jim Tankersley donated a dozen balls “in memory of Pete Ackermann, a wonderful, godly man and Oaks Christian legend” and one ball was given anonymously “in memory of Armando Luna.”

Wendy Spasiano donated 19 balls; Jeff and Anne Barks gave a baker’s dozen; Brad and Mia Ditto gave 11; Karen and Dave Brooks gave 10, as did Joann Cooper; Shelly and Steve Brown gave five; David and Shelley Cole gave four; and Tom and Karyne Roweton gave two.

Patrons of The Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks donated 79 balls and Camarillo Somis and Pleasant Valley Lions Club gave 122 more.

In another shared effort, 220 balls were given by a group of family members and friends who wished to only have their first names used: Alma, Aric and Margarita, Allen and Alast, Rachel and Michael, Emma, Rick and Nancy, Shaun and Ruth, Andy and Connie, Christine and Tyler, Alma and Tomas, Juan; Mike and Claudia, Phil and Charlene, Steve and MaryKay, John and Kellie, Debbie, Will, Maddie, Pam, Dave, Lane, Michelle and Michael, Rose and Jace, Achilles and Caren, Ron and Anita, and Ricky and Beverly.

John and Sharon Onyshko, with the help of their grandchildren – Gage Redwine; and Colton, Charlotte and Maverick Onyshko – donated 14 balls while Dody Blankenburg took her two granddaughters, Bowie Ryan and Reagan James Smallwood, to pick out four balls.

 Jim and Sandie Arthur gave a dozen “in honor of our beloved daughters and three grown grandchildren” and Allison Johnson gave two balls “in honor my brother, Michael Demeter.”

 “In honor and loving memory of our brother and cousin, Michael Kendlinger,” Brandon and Tommy Kendlinger, and Elijah Ontiveros, donated 18 balls while Leslie Seifert-De Los Santos, son Nicholas, and family gave 10 balls “in remembrance of Manuel De Los Santos.”

An anonymous donor gave “eleven basketballs in memory of Karen, Larry, Suz, Jeanie, John, James, Eric, Keith, Rich, Louise, Becky – and a twelfth in honor of everyone who is currently fighting cancer.” Four and two more balls were also given anonymously.

Ken and Kathy McAlpine gave three balls; Greg and Jess Woodburn gave two; and a dozen balls came from a married couple who wished to anonymously “spread some love.”

An abundance of love was indeed spread this year in the form of 1,038 young holiday smiles, smashing last year’s previous record ball total of 891.

“My beloved mom told me,” former Rhodes Scholar Pat Haden once shared with me, “that the words ‘thank you’ are the most powerful words in the English language.”

To each and everyone who helped spread the love by giving one ball, or many, I say most earnestly, “Thank you!”

*   *   *

Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com