The iPad-size dash computer screen is one of my favorite features on my 2022 Ram truck, Platinum edition. This morning, it got the hiccups. The screen would jump up and down. Everything was normal on it, except it would not be still.

I did the thing you do with computers: rebooted. Killed the truck. Let it sit. Restarted. The bouncing continued, even after I repeated the operation.

I decided to deal with that later and focus on something more important—a phone call I needed to return. Pastor Keith Day, my longtime friend, called me first thing this morning and I told him I would return his call as soon as I was on my commute to the office.

The trouble came when I tried to hit his face on the screen. Just as I went to punch his number, the screen bounced and I hit another Keith, who happens also to be one of my closest and dearest friends. I immediately hit the END button, but you know how that goes. It was too late. He had already gotten a missed call from Gene.

I talked to the Keith I had intended to call, and unburdened myself of some baggage I was carrying to the office. He is always good for that. Sometimes, he has a little insight or advice, sometimes he laughs at the way I put my troubles, and sometimes, he just listens. Depending on the trouble, any of those will do, and he always seems to choose the right one.

As soon as I hung up with that Keith, the other Keith called. We talked, laughed, bitched, moaned, and generally felt that connection that has been there almost from the first moment I sat down in his cubicle 15 years ago. Always a good feeling.

I explained my frustration with the bouncing screen and how nothing is better than technology that works, and nothing is worse than when it doesn't; hemorrhoids being one exception, I am sure.

As we hung up, while each rolling up our proverbial sleeves to go to work, I said to my friend, “Calling you is never a mistake. It might be an accident, but it is never a mistake."

He liked that.

Then, a half hour later or so, I start seeing messages pop up from Microsoft Teams. Everyone is wishing Keith Craft a happy birthday. I hadn't even checked the calendar because it is May, and why bother? Mother's Day is past. My oldest daughter has already had her May birthday, as has my mother-in-law, and my youngest daughter's isn't for a few days yet.

It is Keith's birthday, so let me tell you about a man who is a man's man. He is an expert fisherman, can shoot clay pigeons with the absolute best, hunt like Daniel Boone, and toss out idioms, colloquialisms, and quaint sayings on a level almost on par with my departed Dad. And almost on par with me, I might add.

He is funny. He is smart. He is the one who made the call to lure me back into this industry from my comfortable corner office, where I looked out the picture window at AT&T Stadium every workday. I am not even mad about it. Look where we are today.

The bottom line? Without Keith Craft, I wouldn’t have crossed paths with Zack Meadows and Stacy Story. I would not have run the adjuster trails from Calgary to Long Island with those guys. I would not have been there when they acquired Mid-America Catastrophe Services to participate in its launch. I would not have come back into this industry to rise through the ranks from account manager to VP of Operations to President of Adjust U.

None of that happens without this relationship.

"Gonna be a good day, Tater!"

Keith often says this first thing in the morning, as he makes his rounds to spread good cheer and better jokes.

So, my encouragement to you today is this: Be someone someone wants to be, and be someone someone wants to be around.

See you around.

Happy birthday, Keith Craft. Make it a good day, Tater!

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