A couple of weekends ago I awoke to a message waiting for me in Facebook Messenger. It was only by chance that I happened to open the app as I don’t have the notifications on for it (of most of my other apps, but that’s a conversation for another day). My inbox contained a message from my friend Steve. There was no note attached, only a link. You can check it out here.

A handful of years ago Steve went on a road trip to Colorado with the boys and I. As we drove down an old country road surrounded by aspen we pulled over for a little hike. When we got back in the car and started driving Steve went on the recite the entire poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost… from memory. To this day when the boys hear the poem they confirm that it is the one Steve told them on that trip.

Over the past week and a half I’ve considered blogging about The Road Not Taken, but it didn’t quite feel right. From the past five plus years of blogging I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Some blogs need to grow, ferment, marinate, and age before they are ready. Tonight I’m thankful for waiting on this one as it finally seems right today.

When I hear this poem referenced it is often focused on the lines:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

When read in a vacuum this seems to be a call for originality, to be a rebel, and to go your own way. It these were the only three lines this would most likely have been the intent.

If one focuses only on those three lines it is so easy to misunderstand the full meaning of the poem and to miss out on the beauty that is the uncertainty of the conclusion. Thats one of the reasons I am grateful for this poem today. The complexity, uncertainty, and duality of meaning is seemingly rivaled by only life itself. Heck, even the lines before the three above add both feelings of remorse and satisfaction at the same time. We are left to decide for ourselves which the author is feeling as they write.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

When one listens completely there are so many meanings behind the poem. Almost every sentiment could be taken in different ways. The mood I am in seems to influence it differently each time I read it. Sometimes I find it inspiring to go where other’s haven’t gone. Other times it reminds me that life is about choice. There are also times when I realize that any path while walking in the woods is the correct choice.

Personally, the piece that has been resonating with me recently is one from the picture below:

Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

What this stirs in me is the acceptance of choice – both in the path chosen and in accepting that some paths will go on untrodden by my feet. The nature of decision itself is in taking one path and thereby not taking another. Even if time allows another opportunity to travel the original road not taken the hike upon it will not be the same as before as I, the traveller, will be a different person than I was when I made the original decision.

The realization that the other path can never truly be taken the same way can be a stressful and fear inducing thought. If not considered appropriately I will never know what might have been. In a moment of stress and weakness I may look back to that path and become upset at my “incorrect choice.” When that happens there is one of the most insidious of emotions, regret.

On the converse, the thought of choosing to take one path can be the cause of great joy – even in, especially in, moments of stress and challenge. If I choose an emotion of gratitude I decide to want what I have instead of attempting to have what I want. When my choice is gratitude I see the other path as nonexistent as it is no longer there, there is only the path forward.

As I choose other paths in the future it will all be one path melded through gratitude rather than an ever weakening spiderweb of regret.

For me, today, this poem reminds me to accept the need to make a choice and to accept that the road not taken will be no more.

My thoughts of the past week have gone back to this poem on many occasions. In thinking on it and learning about it my life has been enriched. That is something I will be eternally thankful for.

Thanks!!!

What I’m most thankful for today has been the flow of the day. The majority of days seem to either be a bit rushed at times or felt a bit disjointed. Many times there are curveballs thrown my way which knocks things a little out of true. These are not bad days, for sure, but they have moments that make the day feel like it is isn’t a perfectly synchronized work of art.

In the Dan Brown book Origins there’s an interesting comparison made. A crowd of people at a gathering hear what sounds like a small child banging away on a piano. Random notes, no chords, zero rhythm, and it is painful to listen to. After a short period of time the noise fades away and is replaced by a wonderfully performed symphony on the same piano. People are stirred to emotions and feel moved. The technical sounds are the same, the organization of them is how they transform from noise to beauty. The order creates flow.

Today each activity flowed beautifully from one activity to the next. There was seemingly no wasted moments while never feeling rushed. From the moment I woke up until now there’s been an incredible synchronicity to today. I had just enough time to start the next step of one project before Becky pulled out Butter Braids out of the oven. There was exactly enough time to work on the next step of one project and wrap up another before we ran to the grocery store. Grocery shopping seemed almost too simple and carefree. At home there was enough time to prep the sliders for our lunch while taking care of a couple of other things. Grab food, drop off Dominic for his referee assignment and then knock out a sweet 5+ mile hike with our packs on. We wrapped up just in time to get Dominic after his game was done. Becky and I ran a couple of errands, came home and knocked out other projects. She ran the boys to Scouts and we had an upbeat and positive unexpected phone call that landed at exactly the time we both were in between activities. Pick up the boys, finish grilling, eat, go for a walk with the dogs, back up to the workshop, help Gavin on a project, come inside, blog and soon go to bed. Everything perfectly in harmony, perfectly timed.

Today I’m grateful for the reminder to pause and be thankful for days like this when they happen. Enjoy the sensation of everything being perfectly in tune. Also, remember how these days happen. Yes, some of it is due to serendipity. That said, there’s also much credit due for focusing on the goals I want to accomplish, thinking ahead in how things will fit, giving myself extra time, and remembering to roll with the changes without emotion, only logic. The perfect timing of today didn’t happen merely by accident. There are so many ways I can control what I can control to help make the day flow like this. It won’t always work, but it will more often when I live intentionally.

Thanks!!!

I was going to find something more specific or witty, but the title really fits what I am grateful for today.

After waking up this morning I showered up and took Gavin to his soccer game. With the extra 40 minutes I had I reclined the seat a little and read in the quiet car. It was exactly how much time I needed to finish the book I’ve been reading, The Push by Tommy Caldwell.

Gavin played well in his game as I watched while standing in the sun. The heat of the sun felt so amazing after the gloominess of most of this past week. Seeing Gavin have fun playing with his friends was enjoyable and rewarding as always.

After his game I ran to Kwik Trip to grab some more water for him before the next game started. The drive provided an opportunity to listen to a little more of my current audiobook, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. By the time I got back to the fields I was already engrossed in the book.

Gavin played well in the second game too and I was still in the sun. Hey, if it was awesome the first time it was just as awesome the second.

After lunch I went up to my workshop to knock out the next steps on a project. Everything flowed well, went according to plan, and I felt great peace and calm as I created with my hands. I still smell the maple saw dust in my nose and that makes me smile!

Dominic was reffing in the afternoon so I went to pick him up. He drove us home and we shot the bull. Some extra time with just the two of us, the way I’d had with Gavin earlier in the day. So much fun spending time talking with my boys.

After a quick shower we were off to church. Another pleasant service that left me thinking and in a deep state of calm.

Sushi for supper, yum!

After supper Dominic, Becky, and I took the girls for a walk and enjoyed even more fresh air. Getting out moving with a belly full fish was exactly what I needed. Exercise, fresh air, time with the family? Yes please!

Now it’s time for a movie and chillin’ on the couch before hitting the bed.

See what I mean? It has been a Saturday full of stuff I enjoy. To focus on any one part would have missed the point. It has been an awesome day!

Thanks!!!

Way back in the day when I first got a router it was as a gift from work. I didn’t really have the cash available to buy a router table for it so I did the next best thing… I made one for myself. Between an article talking about how to make your own router plates to memories of Dad’s router set up I figured I could give it a go. The result wasn’t pretty, not by a long shot, but it was reasonably functional. When I used it there was initially a sense of pride in using my own creation to create other things…

After a while it transformed into frustration over the imperfections caused by the flaws of my design. It wasn’t easy to set up and adjust. The screws weren’t perfectly flush which led to scratching on the surface which in turn caused more sanding. The lines and angles were close, but needed a lot of love from my sander to get them looking balanced. Heck, the lack of safety features even caused the worst woodworking injury I’ve ever had. If you ever need to measure something to see if it is truly 3/8″ just use the palm of my right hand to see if the scar is the same size.

The situation I was in forced me to improvise and use ingenuity to figure out how to create a workable router table. In doing so I learned several new skills I may not have picked up before. There were many lessons in how a router works as well which has helped me use this tool in different ways.

Fast forward to tonight. I had some work to do on a few projects and the next steps involved the router. From past experience I was looking at 45-60 minutes per item based on what I needed to do with each, a total of approximately two and a half hours. After a bit of hesitation I ran to Menards and finally bought myself a router table. I cringed at the price and almost changed my mind, but in the end I ended up with something like this in my workshop:

Gavin came upstairs to help me set it up and make sure it was ready. We then proceeded to finish all three projects within 15 minutes! How wild is that? From two and a half hours to 15 minutes – all thanks to using the right tool for the job.

This interesting dichotomy wasn’t lost on me as I wrapped up my work on the projects tonight. The forced ingenuity helped me find my own way, to learn more about the process, and led to one sense of accomplishment. Using the right tool made life so much easier and helped me get more of the one resource I can never replace – time. There was a different sense of accomplishment in knowing I would be able to produce so much more thanks to the time savings and my work would look so much better.

Today I’m grateful for both sides of the coin – forced ingenuity AND the right tool for the job.

Thanks!!!

So many different directions my brain has started to take my blog post today. From early this morning through now I’ve had many different thoughts I’ve started mentally writing my blog about. There were a few times when I considered pausing what I was doing in order to blog in the moment, but I kept allowing myself to stay focused on what I had going on.

It is now waaaaaay past my normal bed time and I can feel the gravity of the early morning alarm pulling my towards my bed. I’m exhausted. It has been a wildly busy and productive day filled with many positives, but I’m feeling pretty well spent. Running on fumes.

The weight of my eyelids is making it exceedingly difficult to even consider a long blog post to cover everything… …my apologies for the pause, just had a huge yawn. 😉

Sitting here exhausted all I can really say is that I’m grateful for running on fumes. I squeezed a lot of life out of the day in very positive ways. The feeling of exhaustion is directly proportional to the successes of the day. Yes, I’m exhausted and about to crash, but I wouldn’t have skipped a moment if I had the opportunity.

Time to crash and rise again like the phoenix in the morning.

Thanks!!!

At the end of last year I prepared for 2021 by writing a framework of what I wanted to focus on throughout the year. In addition to goal, start doing, and stop doing lists I wrote about my core values. The list of values included a few that I’ve been working on over the past few years and a few that I’m focused on growing into this year. This afternoon I received an awesome lesson in one of those values from a teammate who passionately lives this value.

As I’ve written about a few times our teams all meet at 4pm on Wednesdays to focus on learning more about how to better live our core values. A couple of months ago we decided to pause the values learning and go in a slightly different direction. Each teammate is taking a week to share one thing that they are passionate about.

Today we had a first. Trissa was up in our rotation and threw us all a bit of a curveball. She had individually wrapped gifts for each teammate in each of our three offices that we were to bring with us to training at 4:00 today. Talk about adding some extra excitement to the training!

In her training she started talking about things she is passionate about. After talking about her family she started talking about her Cricut which she uses for crafting some incredible things. She shared pictures of projects she’d worked on in the past – they were amazing! Next thing we knew she said we could each open our present.

As the wrapping paper came off I was treated to this awesome creation:

How awesome and perfectly fitting is that? From the message to it being on a piece of live edge wood to the beautiful simplicity of the design it is perfect! Before the weekend is over this will be hanging up in my house and will smile each time I see it.

As we all went around the Zoom “room” we shared what she had made for each person. Each design was completely unique. There were one dimensional pics, three dimensional designs, different themes, even cups and mugs. As we went around the room each gift was perfectly matched to the individual who opened it. She made something perfectly awesome for each of the about one dozen of us!

I can’t even begin to think of how much time, energy, and passion Trissa put into this. It wasn’t just giving a gift to a bunch of people, it was so much more than that. She took the time to figure out what was important to each person. She designed something specific to fit each person. Trissa then put tons of time into creating something we would each appreciate. One of the most valuable gifts someone can give is the gift of themselves. Trissa made a gift of herself, almost one dozen times.

The smile on her face as the gifts were opened was priceless. It was a look of pure joy, the joy that comes from the creation of joy for others.

We went around the room and shared what we got and we smiled each and every time someone shared their gift. When I got home I immediately showed it off to my family and we each smiled while looking at it. While thinking of where I would hang it I was smiling again. As I blog now I’m smiling again.

What Trissa gave me today was beyond the gift itself. For sure, I am totally grateful for this awesome picture and will treasure it for years. The funny thing is that I will be treasuring it for two reasons. The first is the face value of the gift, an awesome reminder of something that is important to me, something that will remind me to breathe and remember to go into the woods for solace when I’m stressed.

What’s the other reason I will continue to be grateful for this gift? In creating it Trissa showed me what it looks like to live the value of “Give: Make a gift of yourself” with incredibly selfless passion. She taught me a valuable lesson in what it looks like to really make a gift of oneself. Taking time to really know and care about the person (people) you’re giving the gift to. Taking the time to not just get the right message but to find the right way to deliver it. Focusing time and energy on something that will bring someone else joy even though when, especially when, life continues to throw so much at us. Trissa not only made a gift of herself, she did it with a deeply heartfelt passion. The smiles and joy she brought for others will be remembered along with this lesson.

Today I am grateful for the inspiration to live more into the value of “Give” through the wonderful and passionate example of my friend, Trissa.

Thanks!!!

Some nights the words only get in the way of the actual gratitude. Dominic has been working so hard to improve his game enough to earn a spot on the varsity soccer squad. Thanks to a couple of excellent outings last week he got the nod for tonight. Not only did he get the call up, he started.

My heart is bursting with pride and joy. I’m so grateful for him to see yet another example of how hard work pays off.

Congrats dude!!! Your mom and I are so proud of the effort you’ve put in to earn your opportunity tonight! Whether you made it or not, the hard work you’ve put in towards a big goal of yours is something we will always be proud of and will always support you on. Love you bud!!!

Thanks!!!

First off, don’t you love when one of your favorite bands covers a song by one of your other favorite bands? Earlier today I found out kind of by accident that The Strumbellas recorded an acoustic version of I’m Goin’ Down by Bruce Springsteen. That discovery was a perfect counterbalance to the busy-ness of the day. Throughout the day The Strumbellas were a fantastic soundtrack for the day. Throw in a playing or two of Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and it was a piece of perfect musical peace.

The day was pretty much nonstop from the alarm until now. I had much planned and much came up throughout the day. Not bad or anything, more of a day when I felt like I was flying down the highway with brake issues.

What is most wild to me is that all of the things I wanted to get done got done today. There’s still more to do, but I put work into a handful of dreams while also putting a full day of work and then some while also adulting. Not too shabby! I have to credit Cal Newport for much of the help today as a few of the concepts from his books made huge positive impacts. From working through block time, minimizing digital distractions, and minimizing the number of emails many of the concepts I’ve learned from his books helped me keep rolling.

As I wrap this text up I can’t help but smile and remember an old Vince Lombardi quote…

Thanks!!!

We love doing stuff all together as a family. Be it a family game night, a family hike, family vacation, or anything of the like we are usually doing it together as a group. Spending time with all four of us is awesome and something I take time to appreciate often as I know it won’t always be the case. As the boys grow up, move out, and start their families I understand that the exact dynamic we have will change to something different. Not better or worse, rather just different. When I keep that mindset it reminds me to appreciate all of our moments together.

Gavin and I have been in Iowa for a soccer tournament since Friday night. Just the two of us hanging out at the hotel, riding in the car, and enjoying soccer. This dynamic is so different than the norm as it is just the two of us. We’ve talked about silly stuff, played games, given each other a hard time, eaten unhealthy, spent time in conversation about life stuff, and just chilled together. It’s been awesome to have so much compact one on one time with him.

I love our family time as a full family, but once in a while there is a different type of fulfillment to be found in these moments as a smaller group. I remember having similar experiences with Dominic at different times including soccer tournaments and Becky and I have definitely had many of those times with just the two of us. In times like this in a smaller group it seems as if we have the unique opportunity to strengthen and deepened our relationships on a different level, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to do just that.

Thanks!!!

Gavin’s first couple of games were lots of fun to watch. The scores weren’t in our favor, but they were fun to watch nonetheless. One of the tings that I was impressed by was the continued growth of the entire team and of Gavin. He’s improved so much over the past season, it’s almost like watching a different kid. There’s still a long way to go for him, but if he keeps progressing like this I can’t wait to see where he grows. One of the reasons I am thankful for his growth is that it has largely been through extra practices in the offseason and hard work. So cool for him to see how this pays off!

The weather outside was certainly frightful during game time of his first match. The temperature was something like 46 with 10-12 mph winds… and rain. The MVP of my gear for that game was Becky’s soccer blanket. She received it as a gift a while back from Mom and I borrowed it for this trip. The waterproof and windproof blanket was exactly what I needed to stay warm all game long.

For the past few years I’ve continued to work on practicing Stoicism. Typically this means trying to keep a cool head and focus on logic instead of emotion. I’ve found myself making progress in many areas of my life. Of particular note I found it very helpful to take a deep breath during the second game of the day. Had I watched this a year or two ago I would have lost my cool on more than one occasion. As it was I also saw I have room for improvement as there were still a couple of times I caught myself yelling when I should have taken a deep breath instead.

After the first game Gavin and I grabbed takeout from Zombie Burger, a recommendation from my friend Jeremy. We both had the same burger – one with bacon, fried onion, and grilled cheese sandwiches for the buns. Throw in some tasty cheese fries and a couple of incredible shakes and we had a meal that caused us to skip supper later. So delicious! Never in a million years would I have stumbled upon this place on my own, I am thankful for the recommendation!

Thanks!!!