September 2009
Have you ever had the feeling that there’s somewhere else you are supposed to be, rather than where you are now, and that you are being guided by a higher power and KNOW you need to make significant changes in your life?
Well, I recently did, and here’s my story of “Stone by Stone on the Western trail, with Billy Bob Knopp”
My name is Bill Knopp, that rhymes with Top, although most of our relatives say Kuh-nope, but that’s a story for another time…. And since moving to Idaho, I hear theres lots of Knopp folks in nearby Burley, and they say Kuh-nop….but that’s neither here nor there for now…
They say that life is a “journey” , well mine sure has been an interesting one lately… One might reckon I’m having another “mid life crisis” at age 55, but I had one of those at age 40, and this here’s a big difference…back at that time, I was feeling somewhat in despair and was looking for “something” in my life, and made some huge life changes. I went through a divorce from the mother of my 2 kids, Keely and Kyle, bought a candy red convertible Mustang, quit a great job in the hotel industry to chase a multi level marketing “dream” and spent all my retirement savings.
Ultimately, after much soul searching and heartfelt prayer, I found spiritual fulfillment through baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gained a testimony of the restored gospel and changed my lifes direction. The following 15 years also featured an interesting and adventurous journey with a variety of relationships and marriages, jobs, and moves to different communities in Michigan, until recently….
Just a year ago, in the Fall of 2008, I was getting those “feelings”, impressions, promptings, call them what you will, that I needed to move, or relocate somewhere else…Funny thing is, I had a great job as a Director of Sales with Splash Universe in Dundee, MI, and had finally moved to Dundee from Flat Rock, where I had lived for 2 years (with my buddy Toma the Mime and his son Ian), to cut down on the commuting time. I’d been there just a month, was settling in my new place, and got a call from my old friend Tom Albrecht, who was now DOS at Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire in Northern Michigan. Tom and his boss John Stultz were looking to fill a golf and ski sales position there and both Tom and Lisa Nelson (another old pal in the hotel biz), thought of me for that role.
I was not in the mood to move again in such a short time, or to leave my sweet friends in Dundee, but the offer was too good to pass up, so I headed 4 hours North in mid November, arriving in a snow storm, which I don’t think quit until late March!
To make a long, (although only 9 tumultuous months long) story short, I transitioned with my new co workers through promotions, firings, hirings, re-hirings, restructuring, new bosses, office relocations, ego driven power struggles, and ultimately personal revelation, that Bellaire Michigan just wasn’t where I “belonged”, but another step on the my journey… and I was being prepared to move yet again..
I loved living in Bellaire.. I was living in a great house, in a quaint little town, where I could enjoy riding my bike among picturesque scenery, and enjoy the company of good friends, but it just did not seem to be my “final destination”….
Have you ever had the feeling that there’s somewhere else you are supposed to be, rather than where you are now, and that you are being guided by a higher power and KNOW you need to make significant changes in your life?
Well, I recently did, and here’s my story of “Stone by Stone on the Western trail, with Billy Bob Knopp”
My name is Bill Knopp, that rhymes with Top, although most of our relatives say Kuh-nope, but that’s a story for another time…. And since moving to Idaho, I hear theres lots of Knopp folks in nearby Burley, and they say Kuh-nop….but that’s neither here nor there for now…
They say that life is a “journey” , well mine sure has been an interesting one lately… One might reckon I’m having another “mid life crisis” at age 55, but I had one of those at age 40, and this here’s a big difference…back at that time, I was feeling somewhat in despair and was looking for “something” in my life, and made some huge life changes. I went through a divorce from the mother of my 2 kids, Keely and Kyle, bought a candy red convertible Mustang, quit a great job in the hotel industry to chase a multi level marketing “dream” and spent all my retirement savings.
Ultimately, after much soul searching and heartfelt prayer, I found spiritual fulfillment through baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gained a testimony of the restored gospel and changed my lifes direction. The following 15 years also featured an interesting and adventurous journey with a variety of relationships and marriages, jobs, and moves to different communities in Michigan, until recently….
Just a year ago, in the Fall of 2008, I was getting those “feelings”, impressions, promptings, call them what you will, that I needed to move, or relocate somewhere else…Funny thing is, I had a great job as a Director of Sales with Splash Universe in Dundee, MI, and had finally moved to Dundee from Flat Rock, where I had lived for 2 years (with my buddy Toma the Mime and his son Ian), to cut down on the commuting time. I’d been there just a month, was settling in my new place, and got a call from my old friend Tom Albrecht, who was now DOS at Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire in Northern Michigan. Tom and his boss John Stultz were looking to fill a golf and ski sales position there and both Tom and Lisa Nelson (another old pal in the hotel biz), thought of me for that role.
I was not in the mood to move again in such a short time, or to leave my sweet friends in Dundee, but the offer was too good to pass up, so I headed 4 hours North in mid November, arriving in a snow storm, which I don’t think quit until late March!
To make a long, (although only 9 tumultuous months long) story short, I transitioned with my new co workers through promotions, firings, hirings, re-hirings, restructuring, new bosses, office relocations, ego driven power struggles, and ultimately personal revelation, that Bellaire Michigan just wasn’t where I “belonged”, but another step on the my journey… and I was being prepared to move yet again..
I loved living in Bellaire.. I was living in a great house, in a quaint little town, where I could enjoy riding my bike among picturesque scenery, and enjoy the company of good friends, but it just did not seem to be my “final destination”….
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