Today’s one of those proud parent moments in which I’m thankful for things our boys have done or said today. In both cases it makes me smile seeing that the boys are soaking in some of the things Becky and I are trying to live and impart in them. I’m grateful for the opportunity to see the imprints we’ve left on them so far.

Dominic got some great news today, he’s been selected to be one of the Stage Managers for his middle school play. This is something he’s wanted to do since he participated as a stage hand last year. I’m taking on this role he’ll have a lot more responsibility to his team and I’m proud of him for taking that on. This is one of a growing handful of areas in which he’s taken on more responsibility and leadership, and it seems to fit him very well. Super proud of him!

In school today Gavin was asked what three things he would buy if he won the lottery. His answers have me smiling and beaming with pride. First, he’d buy investments so he’d have more money for the future (I just got him a copy of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book for kids which he obviously soaked up 😁). Next, he’d buy an island in the ocean and put a good sized house on it (with the plan of buying more islands with the return from his investments). Last, he’d give the rest to charity (obviously Becky’s been making a strong impact on him!). I’m so thankful to hear that he’s got three solid priorities – though I’m not quite sure of the order 😆. Regardless, it’s great to see he’s grasping the concept of investing versus spending to he has more to give in the future.

Like I started with, it’s a pretty proud parent kind of day! Of course as I’m typing this the boys are bickering a little in logrolling… “Dominic cheated!” followed by “No I didn’t!” Music to my ears… sounds like we’ve made progress with the boys but we’ve still got a long ways to go! 🤪

Thanks!!!

For the most part I’ve quit watching the news, but there’s still one place I go to keep updated on what’s going on in the world…  The Onion ( https://www.theonion.com ).

Last night during the Super Bowl I stumbled upon a few of the articles they were continuing to post dragon the game.  Each of them had me full on belly laughing as I read them.  In many cases I had to share them with others.  The greatest of the night was possibly this one:

I still remember grabbing a copy of The Onion whenever I was in Madison in college.  I’d read it from cover to cover and enjoy it tremendously.  My friends and I still often joke around about and quote some of our favorite old articles like Death Star to Open Day Care Center and, well, others that shall remain nameless as I plead the fifth for my sense of humor.  😉

Today’s been full of many great moments and things I’m thankful for.  In a few cases I even started writing tonight’s blog about them.  As I sat down to type Dominic and I went through a handful of the headlines and were laughing again so I took it as a sign that I was on the right track.  Keep up the fantastic reporting Onion!!!  I’m thankful for the smiles and laughs you bring on a daily basis!

Thanks!!!

Days like this are amongst my favorites.  Thinking through the day there are way too many things to be thankful for to narrow it down to just one thing.  Many times these days are “list days,” days when I go with a list of gratitudes instead of just one.  Today I am incredibly grateful for one of those days today.  While there hasn’t been anything insanely crazy it’s been a day filled with ordinary awesomeness.  Here are several of the highlights:

• Getting a good 9 hours  hours of sleep
• Waking up early enough to grab a full breakfast before church, complete with a great cup of coffee
• At church as our priest is asking the congregation for things they love he works his way from the far side fo the church to our’s.  When he gets to our side he asks again and Gavin shouts out, “Video games!!!”  The entire congregation bursts into laughter and Father Dodge comments, “I think that’s more of an obsession.”  Gavin just smiled from ear to ear.
• Running into a friend we haven’t seen in a long while after church.
• Grocery shopping after church was about the most efficient, chill, and peaceful shopping trip we’ve had in a long time.  For reals, it was actually almost relaxing!
• Shooting the bull with my mom just always feels right on the weekends and today was no different.
• Lunch was leftover ribs from last night.  Mmm…
• After lunch the boys went up into the workshop to help me clean up.  After painting it’s been great to get everything cleaned up and back in its place.  The boys being up there with me made it an enjoyable chore.
• It was also cool putting up more of the old tools and whatnot from my dad, but more on that in the future… 😉
• Becky’s been watching the forecast like a hawk and saw this afternoon was our best opportunity to run outside for the next few days.  We jumped on the opportunity and got a wonderful run in.  Being outside and running in shorts felt invigorating!  The fog added a really awesome dreamlike quality to the run.  It felt perfect spending time outside running with Becky (& the girls).
• Gavin opted to help me cook supper tonight and I was thankful for his help and company.  He now knows how to bake bacon and slice cheese like a pro.
• While cooking I had a string of over 6 straight awesome songs on Pandora, all of which that hit the mood perfectly.
• Speaking of supper I went way back to one of my favorite childhood meals for our Super Bowl dinner…  Mexican Hero Sandwiches!  Cheesy, meaty, bacon filled, goodness!!!
• Black licorice for dessert…  mmm…
• Dishes?  No need for me to do dishes after cooking, Dominic volunteered to do them himself.  How awesome is that?
• Chilling as a family in the living room is the perfect close to the weekend.  We’re all doing our own things to unwind, but we’re doing it as a family and it feels wonderful.  While we’re doing different things we’re regularly engaging in conversation and joking around.  It’s a perfect end to a wonderful day.

There you have it, a day of a list of things I’m thankful for…  a day of lists.  I’m so grateful for all the blessings in my life!

Thanks!!!

Over the past few years I’ve had some unique opportunities to connect with individuals I’d probably never have connected with in the past. After reading a great book I’ve found that I can often reach out to the author directly with questions. When digging into a topic it’s easy to find a subject matter expert and reach out for insight. In other cases I’ve used those media to reach out to bloggers and content creators to just pick their brains a little.

This morning was a wonderful example of how some of these connections can inspire new or fuel existing dreams. One of my favorite podcasters, Josh Lee Kwai, has some amazingly beautiful pictures of his current vacation to Iceland. The pictures were stunning! On my dream list Iceland occupies not just one, but two spots… one trip during the summer (preferably a month long road trip in a camper van) and one trip during the winter to experience just how dark it is for how long and to see the landscapes in a different light (pun totally intended 😁). As luck would have it Josh has now done both! It was great to reach out with a couple of questions and he was able to help me start making plans for my future trips out there. On an interesting side-note, Josh has also done a great job of pointing me in the direction of a couple of great books including Snowcrash, Spin, & Ender’s Game.

That’s why I’m thankful for the ability of social media to connect me to people I normally wouldn’t have bumped into. How awesome to find a great resource with some similar tastes to bounce questions off of and gather ideas from?

Thanks!!!

What a day! It’s been a very productive one, both professionally and personally. With a straightforward yet beefy task list I was able to focus and accomplish all I intended and then some! I’ve even been working into my list for next week even.

One of the parts of the day that feels very rewarding is my empty email inbox. That’s right, not a single email waiting for me to take action on. They’re both completely empty… ahh… with that in mind I can completely relax my brain.

Thanks!!!

As you’ll quickly read I’m not going to get into a ton of detail today as the specifics aren’t really necessary.

Today while meeting with some teammates one of them spoke up about something that had bothered them.  Instead of letting it cause drama and issues they brought it up very clearly and in the right way.  They were looking for a way to resolve the situation from happening again.  The other person handled it exactly as I would hoped any of my teammates would.  They apologized for the actions and then worked together with the other teammate to find a resolution.  After a few minutes of discussion the solution was found and everyone left the conversations feeling better knowing that everything had been resolved.

There was no drama, no issues, no finger pointing, no negativity.  Very clear and direct conversation coming from a mutual respect for each other – professionally and personally.  In a nutshell, it was AWESOME!!!  My teammates found a great way to strengthen their relationship through a potentially awkward situation instead of letting it get between them.

While this type of conflict resolution happens often amongst my teams I am especially thankful for it today.  I couldn’t have scripted the conversation any better and I’m so grateful to see that this is how they interact.

Thanks!!!

Logrolling was cancelled due to the cold weather, but fortunately Becky saw that Root Down Yoga was still open so I was able to get an evening workout in tonight.  It was pretty wild going from -36 degree windchill to 95+ degree workout room, nothing like a 120 degree temperature change to get the body moving!

During the yoga class we spent a good chunk of time with our eyes closed to help us focus on our body awareness and focus.  As I was trying to hold a pose while balancing with my eyes closed Nick made a comment.  He reminded us that the “wobbly spots” are where we grow the most.  The rest of the class that thought kept rolling through my mind.

How true is that comment?  The wobbly spots are where we grow the most.  If I am not feeling wobbly I’m not pushing myself to grow enough.  If I am wobbly I haven’t completely failed and have a chance to be successful.  If I’m wobbly the muscles I’m working are getting stronger and will help me balance in the future.

When I relate this to other parts of life I couldn’t help but smile thinking about the several times I’ve been in wobbly spots in the past couple of days.  There’s an odd sense of peace I feel in those moments and up until now I didn’t have a good way to phrase why I feel that way…  Those are wobbly spots and I’m learning and growing.  I am not perfect in those moments, but I’m making positive progress and pushing myself closer to who I should be in those wobbly spots.  Those wobbly spots are moments I should be pushing myself towards and into on a regular basis.

So tonight I’m thankful for the wobbly spots in life.  They may not be comfortable, I may not be successful in that moment, but in those moments I’ve got the opportunity to learn and grow.

Thanks!!!

 

Tonight is was joking with Becky about what my blog was going to be about. I had a couple of legitimately great ideas and then she said something that made me stop in my tracks and say, “yup… that’s it!”

After waking up this morning I headed to my computer and got some work done while Becky was on the treadmill. Afterwards I bundled up and headed out to the garage to do something I haven’t done for quite a while… I fired up the snowblower we got a couple of summers back.

It was AMAZING!!! I was cutting through the snow like a hot knife through butter. It felt great! After getting our driveway done I even had a little time to take care of our neighbor’s driveway. Seeing as he’d snowblowed ours so many times it was nice to return the favor.

The snow today was deep and heavy, having a snowblower made life so much better. It’s times like this I remember the smile on my dad’s face when he finally got one.

Thanks!!!

It’s hard for me to believe, but after eight years of being a Cub Scout Den Leader tonight I was prepping for my last Den meeting. I’m continually amazed by how quickly time flies.

In getting ready for the meeting I wanted to have as much of my old scouting stuff as possible for the boys to see. This last meeting is focused on becoming a Boy Scout and I thought it’d be great to have something in hand to show the boys as examples. Just like yesterday, this meant digging up an old box of goodies from the basement.

I felt a little like Indiana Jones opening up a treasure chest. I opened the red plastic pencil box from the early 80s that contains so many little mementos. In that box I found most of what I was looking for and a quick search of the tote it was in ended in success as I found a few other materials.

Smiling, I laid it all out on the table and went through the mental checklist of what I was looking for to share with the boys tomorrow night. This list included merit badges, rank badges, Order of the Arrow stuff, Scout books, and my Eagle project info. Looking at all of it in front of me I just kept grinning and had about a thousand memories playing through my mind. Those memories also prompted me to search for some old pictures as well… but I’ll save those for a different blog 😉. Pretty sure I have enough fuel for about three or four future blogs from tonight!

I am so thankful for taking the time to dig out all of these goodies from the past for the meeting tomorrow. Not only did it bring a ton of joy to my life today, but it has fueled my passion for Scouting to share with the boys tomorrow.

Thanks!!!