Hmm… I kind of feel obligated to start with the most unlikely of the gratitudes this evening, but I think I’ll save that one for the end.

Most of today was spent with a couple of my business partners. We used the time to hit the pause button on the normal busy-ness of the day and take a step back. While there wasn’t a formal agenda it was the source of some interesting insights. Looking forward to the next year or several there are some opportunities that I hadn’t quite seen. There were some old solutions ready to be rolled out again in new ways. Long story short, I am grateful for the reminder to take time in thought. Had I not paused I would have continued to stay focused on only the present and very near future. By taking time to think and see how everything fits I am able to spend time setting us up for future successes bigger than those we’re currently having.

Throughout the day I was reminded of the power of staying calm. The Daily Stoic email this morning talked of remembering to stay calm. During our training time today I shared a story in which a mentor exhibited extreme calm in the face of a storm; so much so that I still remember it clearly over 20 years later. Calm, the practice of settling the limbic brain down, taking a deep breath, and focusing on logic. If I can remain calm I can survive any situation. So easy to do in a vacuum and so difficult to practice in reality. Each of those reminders have reinforced my focus on continuing to practice calm.

While typing the last paragraph there was an inspiring incident that caught my attention and belongs in my blog tonight. I’m sitting in the car typing on my iPad Mini using a mini keyboard as I wait for Gavin’s soccer practice to wrap up. I pause for a second and see the boys running. There’s a brief note of music and instantaneously all the boys and their coach stop, stand up straight, face Southeast, and put their right hands over their heart. The high school soccer game was about to start and they were playing the National Anthem a few fields away.

To be clear, I don’t mind if anyone is standing or kneeling, everyone has their own thoughts on that. What I found awesome was that in that instant everyone paused, focused their attention on the flag, and were Americans together. No issues with politics, no disagreements about anything, or anything else along those lines. They were all Americans together as one. How perfect is that? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like this is what our nation could use right now more than ever. I’m thankful for being there to see it, it helped to rekindle my hope.

Last, but certainly not least, I’m grateful for frozen pizza. How this stayed off my blog for this long I really have no idea! Okay, so it’s not as deep and serious as the last parts of my blog, but c’mon… it’s frozen pizza! Any entire delicious meal in one easy to cook package. If there was only one food I could eat for the rest of my life and it had to be something with less than 15 minutes of prep time this would be it.

Thanks!!!