Occasionally one finds glimmers of light and hope amidst a train wreck, including the one cast upon us by Covid, the ongoing political circlejerks here and in many other countries, and now the  strongarm antics of the madman across the water (no offense to Elton John) in Russia.

A somewhat convoluted happenstance when researching our weekly Turf Blog & Social Aggregator a few months ago led me to contact Stuart Butler, senior greenkeeper at Royal St. Georges Golf Club in southeastern England. Stu is a 4-year recovering alcoholic who has made his crusade very public through his HWOM (Henry Weston's Old Mate) podcast series, often with Phil Walton as co-host. Phil lives in Wales and works in health care, previously intensive care nursing and now organ donation. He has seen the underbelly of the Covid medical crisis.

As an aside, the HWOM moniker stems from Stu's drinking days, when Henry Weston's hard cider was a favorite beverage. The Old Mate bit? Suffice it to say Stu and Henry have broken up as friends.

In any case, shortly after contacting Stu we connected via What'sApp, had a long conversation to compare notes, and became instant fast friends. That is rare, indeed, for me. We did an interview/podcast about my experiences with depression and alcohol, and have stayed in regular contact since.

Last week we were catching up and Stu mentioned that he and Phil would be recording a podcast that evening about finding (and/or creating) happiness and purpose in the workplace. Would I like to join in? Sure, why not. It has been a subject of interest for me for many years.

I had listened to several podcasts with the two of them, but had not "met" Phil yet. I quickly felt a similar easy connection with Phil as I did earlier with Stu. The conversation was completely off the cuff and unscripted save for a cursory outline of Phil's. I have gone back and listened to it three times, finding additional nuggets of humor and wisdom in each listen.

For me, finding these two new friends 3000 miles away has been my beam of light through Covid and other global madness. Listen or watch. Many good take-home messages here.