First things first, I am grateful for healthy and un-swollen knees this morning! After some icing a couple of times yesterday my knees were back to normal this morning and I was able to run with no issues whatsoever. Yesterday I was thankful for the reminder of how blessed I am to have no normal knee issues. Today I was grateful for no pain and no swelling in my knees. Feeling healthy is one of the best blessings I could ever ask for.

As we wind down for the night the boys and I opted for an episode of River Monsters. While watching Jeremy Wade solve the mystery of which fish killed people in the Atlantic Ocean we were reminded of many memories of our times on the ocean together. Snorkeling over sharks. Seeing dolphins and seals playin in the water. Observing some of the blue-set blue ocean water. Getting close to volcanic islands in the middle of the ocean.

I’m grateful for the memories of our ocean vacations, especially seeing as we haven’t been able to go for a while. I’m also especially thankful for the opportunities we took to make so many memories in the ocean. Watching these episodes with the benefit of real life experience makes it even cooler… and it brings back some awesome memories!

Thanks!!!

For the most part I wasn’t in too bad of shape this morning after my first snowboarding experience last night. As the day went on it felt like the legs of my pants were not quite feeling right. At one point in the afternoon I took a closer look at what was going on and was shocked to find my knees were both pretty swollen. They didn’t hurt, but they were definitely not looking good. Usually I work at a standing desk and that extra work coupled with the snowboarding experience last night left them a little worse for wear. I grabbed a couple of ice bags, sat down, and elevated my legs while I worked. In no time the swelling was already starting to subside.

The ice bags reminded me of a time a long time ago (like almost 20 years ago). Way back in the day when I weighed a lot more than I do now we took a trip to Glacier National Park. After our hike to Iceberg Lake I was pretty much in tears because my knee hurt so bad. The hills and trail had left my knees all beat up, especially the downhills.

My knees were terrible back in the day due to a variety of reasons. They would hurt after almost any physical activity. After awhile I just got used to the consistent pain. It really sucked.

The way my knees feel today is nothing at all like they used to feel. Today the only sensation is the feeling of them being swollen and almost stretching the skin above and below my kneecap. No pain, but just enough of a reminder to take me back to the memories of what they had been.

After losing 60+ pounds and changing my running style my knees have been fantastic! I’m so fortunate to have had both a condition that was curable AND found the solutions to fix them. Since those two changes I’ve been able to hike without issues, run marathons without pain (in the knees), bike as much as I want, and have pretty much no limitations (I’m still hesitant to put the broom ball shoes back on).

Today my knees may be a little swollen, and I’m thankful that they are. Thanks to the swelling I’m reminded of how blessed I’ve been to have had such knee health since the issues I used to have. The sensation of swelling reminds me to be grateful for the normal lack of swelling and lack of limitations I’ve had due to my knees.

Thanks!!!

LOL – while I’m grateful for something specific now, we’ll see how I’m doing tomorrow morning when I wake up. It might be a pretty rough run. 😉

Earlier in the year Gavin and I talked about learning to snowboard. Life got busy (doesn’t it always – even when we live intentionally?) and now the ski/snowboard season is almost done and we had not gone snowboarding.

On our run this morning Becky made a comment about taking Dominic snowboarding sometime this week or next before the snow melted. Something clicked in my head, I checked my calendar and saw I had a window to pick him up, drop him at the ski hill, and would pick him up later. I asked him about it and he was pretty pumped. Later in the day he texted and said it would be a great night for Gavin and I to go with and he’d teach us how to snowboard. How cool is that? Next thing we knew we changed our plans and headed to the hill right after work.

Dominic and his buddy did an awesome job of coaching and teaching Gavin and I how to snowboard. He was right alongside of us coaching us through each step and maneuver. When direction was needed, he gave it. When support and motivation were needed, he gave it. Dominic did an absolutely fantastic job of catching the two of us snowboarding rookies for a couple of hours.

Gavin and I were high five-ing each other after some of our turns, laughing hard at our spills, and enjoyed learning something new. At no point did either of us get frustrated or discouraged, we just kept going up, trying things, improving incrementally, and then doing it again. It was a blast!

The humility of starting something new was so calming and peaceful as always. Something about getting into the learning mindset before attempting it really makes it go from something scary to a wildly joyful event – even when I really sucked at it from the start! Nothing like being a novice to set the entire ego aside to focus on being okay with starting from scratch and building from a starting point of nothing.

All in all, I had so much fun learning to snowboard with the boys tonight. It’s a night I’ll remember forever and one I’ll draw ongoing motivation from. If I can be okay with and enjoy hurling my 44 year old self down a hill covered in snow with a board attached to both my feet, laugh at myself while falling, and get back up to attempt it again I’m pretty sure I can be okay learning just about anything new.

As I started with, we’ll see how I feel in the morning 😉

Thanks!!!

I am a self-diagnosed sufferer of “Shiny Syndrome.” This affliction is closely related to “SQUIRREL!!! Disorder” and can lead me in the wrong direction from time to time. For those of you who are more inclined to stay focused and on one path both of these fun diagnoses mean that when something catches my attention I tend to lose track of what I was focused on then follow the new thing. In the case of “Shiny Syndrome” I’m usually drawn to something shiny, glittering, or bright.

Throughout life I have a tendency to see something shiny and create a big shiny dream to go with it. I’ll focus on it (thank you Gollum for defining it as “my precious”) and latch on to it… until a new shiny thing becomes my new precious.

What’s been interesting to me is the shift in my morning behavior to start my mornings. For almost two months now I’ve kept the same process going. On a daily basis I’m finding I live “into” who I want to be more and more often than at any other point in my life. I’m more focused on my goals and have them in mind as I take action.

There have been many things I’ve been grateful for today and I’m finding that many of them have a common theme… they were inspired, at least in part, by my sticking with the morning routine. By intentionally reminding myself each morning what I want to accomplish and who I am as I live into those goals I’m more naturally living into the person I want to be. Sticking with it certainly seems to be paying off!

Thanks!!!

Everyone has a slightly different taste in music. We each have our favorite types of music, instruments, types of lyrics, and so on. Even if we have best friends who have a lot in common there are apt to be many differences in musical opinion. One person is more a Lord Huron type, another is more of a jazz fan, others are Pearl Jam dudes, and maybe even a Tool fan thrown in for good measure.

My buddy Rick has a knack for noticing and listening for what types of music each of his friends enjoy listening to. When the opportunity is right he’ll spend hours of time building an epic playlist that will scratch the musical itch for all involved. To be honest, it is an art. How he’s able to find ways to take old favorites and combine them with more niche artists and songs that we’ve never heard before to create a unique musical experience. I’d put his brain up against the algorithms of Pandora and I’d bet that Rick would win.

His most recent endeavor has left me listening to music in the periphery of my day. I’ve downloaded more new music in the past 48 hours than I have in the past several months. The music has led to great conversations and has left me smiling throughout much of the day. Heck, did you know that you can play a game called “Guess which of the songs off of the Dixie Chicks album Taking the Long Way were written by Dan Wilson of SemiSonic.” If you’re a fan of Closing Time and Singing In My Sleep you’ll probably pick them out pretty quickly!

For reals, I am also truly thankful for so much and so many deep emotions today I’m sure I’ll write about one day in a future blog. They’re just not quite ready to be written about, they need more time in the cave to age. In the meantime I’ll spend more time listening to great tunes I’d never heard before.

Thanks!!!

Once in a while my blog could get in the way of its own purpose. Crazy, right? How does that work?

The reason I started blogging about my daily gratitude was to be more grateful for the many blessings in my life each day. Essentially it was to live more intentionally in the present through taking time to appreciate it.

If I wrote a crazy long blog today it would get in the way of appreciating the moment as I live it. I’m currently having a blast hanging out with a friend of over four decades. It’s a rarity for us to have time together and I’m going to appreciate each and every minute we get to hang out.

All that said, I’m thankful for remembering to stay focused in the moment and live the intention of my blog by staying in the moment.

Thanks!!!

I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Ellis “Red” Redding, The Shawshank Redemption

Thanks!!!

When I pause and am intentional in how and where I focus my attention it seems to always pay off handsomely.

To get the blood flowing yesterday during the work day I took a brief pause and hopped on the treadmill. I quieted my mind for a moment and thought about what would be the right thing to watch while I walked. My dream list and goals for 2021 brought a perfect idea to mind.

After some keying in a specific phrase on the remote I found Kilian Jornet’s Impossible Traverse (check it out here: https://youtu.be/i2ZllErtdLE )

Kilian is one of the greatest mountain runners of all time. In this short video he attempts to summit seven peaks around him within 24 hours via running, skiing, and climbing.

I don’t want to spoil it so let me summarize in a rather vague fashion. The messages I took away from it have been resonating in my brain all dat long:

• Humility
• Positivity
• Growth mindset
• Grit
• Finding joy in the suffering

In one video I had additional dreams created, deeper insights into behavior changes I must continue to make, and motivation to live more into who I am called to be.

All that specifically because I took the time to pause and live intentionally. How awesome is that?

Thanks!!!

For the second straight day I want to lead off with this being for reals and not anything tongue in cheek or passive aggressive. Due to an issue with Dominic’s school bus I had an opportunity to test my patience early in the morning. Would I lose my cool or would I stay calm? For sure, I didn’t get an A+, there were a few moments when I could have kept more cool and chill while still getting my point across. Regardless, I didn’t snap, I didn’t get angry, and I got it resolved. Thanks to Becky I was able to gain a little perspective and make sure it was resolved not just for Dominic, but for all the kids on the route.

Once this event was all done I took a deep breath and even thanked the person helping me for the opportunity to practice my calm early in the morning. I hope they took it the right way, I was genuinely excited for the test this morning.

As if The Big Dude Upstairs wanted to confirm the earlier test I received a phone call from Dominic long after he was supposed to have been home. “Hey Dad, the bus never picked me up today, I’m still at school.” Cue another deep breath and an opportunity to practice.

While grabbing myself tuff to head out the door I sent a text to a teammate I was supposed to be meeting with shortly:

I was on the phone with them working through the solution while simultaneously hopping in the car to pick up Dominic. The funny part was that when I should have been more frustrated – it was almost like I could see this coming this morning – but instead I couldn’t help but smile as I worked through the situation.

The overall good news? The situation should be fixed and won’t happen again. The other good news? I maintained more of my composure than I would have 6 months ago. Still far from perfect, but heading in the right direction. While it may sound pretty wild, I’m truly thankful for the opportunity to test my patience today!

Thanks!!!

For reals, I don’t even mean today’s blog to be tongue in cheek! After work Becky, Gavin, and I took the dogs for a walk around our normal loop. The sun was out and it felt wonderful breathing in fresh air.

The crazy thing is that it was only 7 degrees but it felt almost balmy. Whoever would’ve thought that less than double digits would feel nice and warm?

Between early morning runs between 5 and -6 and the past few days of a ridiculously frigid -35 I’ve spent most of my time indoors. There was a brief two minute period on Sunday when I stood outside in shorts, shoes, and nothing else to experience the feel of -31. That was wild!!!

Based on the weather of the past week our walk today felt like a heat wave! Throw in the sun for good measure and the walk was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Thanks!!!