I’ve mentioned this many times, but it really hit home again this morning. I am so thankful for living in an area I’m so enthralled with. On our run this morning the initial light of the sunrise light up the outline of the bluffs with a vibrant dark purple. The bluffs themselves lay obscured in the black of night, but their edges were clearly visible. The lack of wind made a perfect reflection on the river as we ran past. There was the sound of train and some street lights on the other side of the river. Outside of those very minimal distractions it felt like we were all alone in the countryside. It was one of those incredibly serene moments of feeling completely lost in the wild. On the way back there were more signs of civilization but the rising sun was lighting up the Mississippi River valley. All the clouds were a variety of spectacular bright pinks until they hit the bright green of the trees atop the bluffs on the other side of the unseen river. Living in such an awesome place like this with so much natural beauty makes it so easy to stay positive even during these times. I am so grateful for the decision I made to move to La Crosse over two decades ago.

A while back I wrote a blog talking about watching my mental diet. This plan has not been flawless, but it’s funny how much progress can be made when intentionally living into a certain direction. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve finished a handful of newly started or half finished books. I’ve been more focused on reducing the amount of time spent on my phone and have been working on replacing it with other activity like reading. Seeing my daily phone time drop well below 30 minutes per day has been wild! Seeing the pile of finished books has me smiling even bigger. What a difference a diet can make!

Over the past few weeks I’ve had several opportunities to do some online gaming with a couple of groups of friends on Zoom. I’m really jones-ing for a trip out to hang out with all of them IRL (in real life) and can’t wait for the day to hang out with them again like we used to several times throughout the year. In the meantime I’m so grateful for the opportunity to hang out with them virtually in an environment like this. Being able to interact in real time and seeing the smiles match the laughs is such a comforting feeling. Can’t wait to hangout in person again soon, but I glad to have this time together to tide me over until then.

Thanks!!!