I can’t help but chuckle when my memory of last year’s blog pops up on Facebook and it seems eerily familiar to how I’m feeling that day.  After all these times I’m not sure if it’s just history repeating itself or if The Big Guy Upstairs just knows I’m a slow learner.  Either way, I’m thankful for how it works out sometimes…

With Becky gone I’ve been pretty task focused, moving from one thing to another for the boys.  I have a pretty aggressive task list at work this week too so I’ve been hammering away on that as well.  Throw in some of the personal goals I’ve set for myself this month and year and it’s been non-stop go, go, go.

Between last night and today I could tell I was getting a little overly worked up.  I decided to head out and run an errand over break and I shut off my audiobook and listened to some music.  One of my goals for the week was to finish my audiobook and I’ve been firing it up every drive to make sure I get it in.  Once the music was playing I could feel my tension drop immediately.  After dropping mail off at the post office I took a sec to check my phone to see what the ding I just heard was.

Turns out that the ding was my Facebook memory from last year…  How fitting is this?

As I paused and thought about it I realized that I’ve been cramming so much in that I haven’t had time to just chill out and think.  Smiling, I kept the music on low, didn’t worry about any tasks, and just enjoyed the ride back to the office.  When heading back to La Crosse today I did the same, just chilling and thinking…  And it was just what I needed, just like it was on this same day last year.

Thanks!!!

In between picking up and dropping off the boys for their various stuff tonight I had a Facebook Memory pop up that left me smiling.  Initially, I was a little sad, but then my feelings quickly went to joy.  Here’s the memory from two years ago (from before the blog!):

It was interesting as I initially talked about the idea with Dad.  Gavin had “Build a Treehouse” on his dream list and I wanted to help make that come true.  Dad was just about as giddy, if not more so, as Gavin was!

We all had so much fun working together to get it built.  Between giving each other a hard time, helping each other learn new construction skills, and just laughing as we spent time together it was pretty awesome.  The tree may have since been removed and a fourth leg and some paint added, but there’s not one time I’ve looked at that treehouse and not thought of Dad.

After seeing this I just kept smiling and thinking about some of the projects that we worked on over the years.  I had forgotten that this was before I started blogging and searched up old posts that contained “treehouse.”  When this one popped up I smiled even bigger and had more memories flooding back:  Day 61 – Thankful for Time in the Workshop with my Oldest Buddy

So many great times and memories with my dad, so many of them while were were building something.  As I said in that blog long before I had any idea he’d be gone, we weren’t just building things, we were building memories.

Today that memory popped up and I’m thankful for building the treehouse with Dad and my boys.  Not for the sake of the treehouse, but for the moments I’ll cherish forever.

Dude, I had so much fun building that treehouse with you!  You had so many great ideas and did a wonderful job of getting the boys involved.  While I wish we’d had more time for more projects I’m so very thankful for the ones that we did.  Love you and miss you tons!

Thanks!!!

How’s that for a mouthful?  I was thinking of a couple of different blogs, but it really only made sense to make the title as epic as Becky.

With Becky in the field this week it’s been a solid learning experience for me.  I know she does a lot to keep our house running, the kids in the right places, and me headed in the right directions, but…  HOLY CRAP!!!  The number of little things that I don’t always notice is crazy!

I had to sit down with my planner and map out EVERYTHING with her.  Seriously, my calendar for the week includes things like turning Gavin’s palate spreader twice, paying quarterly taxes, checking homework daily, running Gavin to soccer, taking Dominic to church classes, taking out meat to thaw for a sleepover later in the week, and many other things….  It’s been insane!  I’m just happy to have time to blog, chill for about 20 minutes and go to bed.

She does all of those types of things every week, and it seems totally effortless.  Becky just picks us all up, puts us on her back, and carries the load.  It’s wild that she hasn’t lost her mind yet!

Then, just as if it couldn’t get any better, she talks me into going to yoga tonight because she knows I’m stressed and busy and that it helps me chill.  It’s awesome, I have a coach to help push me in the right direction!  Again, another one of those little things that would’ve been easy to overlook that had a profound impact on the trajectory of my night.

For all of those reasons, and many others, I am so thankful for Becky’s ability to figure out a way to get everything done, while making it look effortless.  I’ve married a superhero, and I’m super grateful for that!

Thanks!!!

 

With Becky out in the field doing research this week, it’s the Dad Show in the Kreiling house.  Almost nothing went as planned, it all got done, and it all got done with a smile.   As I write this post I’ve started typing and then deleted it as one thought starts to turn into another, and another, and so on.  After several attempts I just sat back and smiled…  Today was a crazy thrill ride of non-stop fun and excitement…  and I loved almost every moment of it (you’ll see why shortly!).

After dropping Becky off at work and getting Dominic up for the bus I took Gavin to the orthodontist to get his palate spreader.  While it may look like a medieval torture device it’s really to spread his mouth wider to create room for his teeth.  Back in the day I also used to sport one of these bad boys.  Gavin took it like a champ, smiled the whole time, and was super pumped to be able to take home the mold of his mouth that they had made last visit.

Work started off with me fixing and cleaning up an overflowing toilet.  When people joke about being the owner and the janitor – it’s true!  As gross as it was, there was a moment in it when I smiled and remembered a quote from The Book of Joy:  “I am but one of 7 billion on this Earth.”  If my ego ever starts to get too big, I’ll be sure to find a toilet to unclog and clean…  It grounded me quickly.

The rest of the work day was pretty awesome.  I was able to spend a good chunk of productive time with one of my work families, and it was exactly what I needed.  Most of the tasks were checked off today, the rest will be done tomorrow.

After work it was an evening full of rushing to school to pick up Gavin, take him home, get him to soccer practice, stop at Menards with Dominic to pick up plywood, drop Dominic off, pick up Gavin, and make supper.  Non-stop, but so many moments of joy and happiness mixed in.

I had fun talking with my mom… twice…  she was patient enough to let me end one conversation early to get Gavin ready for practice, and then call her back once I was on the road to the fields.  Our schedules haven’t lined up well over the past couple of weeks, it was great to spend time talking with her.

While driving home from Menards Nick and I were able to connect and shoot the bull.  Laughing and enjoying the conversation I was surprised to see we were on the phone for about 40 minutes – time flew by (& yes Nick, I know I just totally teed one up for you there!).

Once we got home from practice I fired up supper.  It was a concoction that I had dreamt up last night.  An homage to the Monday evening meals cooked by my dad when my mom had to work.  While he was more of a Hamburger Helper kind of guy, I put my own spin on two of the boys favorite foods…  Yup, I made Bacon Mac & Cheese.  Not going to lie, it was GLORIOUS!  The boys loved it too, so I was sure to remind them that if we ate this too often we might see Grandpa Pete much sooner than we want to!  It tasted great and it was pretty awesome knowing that Dad was smiling somewhere above.

While I was cooking Gavin wanted to FaceTime his Uncle Nick, so there we were having a ton of fun with Nick, Jenn, Lauren, and their dogs.  It was almost as if we were all together having fun at a family event.  Dominic threw out some pretty sick burns on Uncle Nick…  I have a feeling that he (Dominic) will regret that in the future! 😛

At a little before 8pm I was able to sit, chill, and eat my incredible Bacon Mac & Cheese.  After 15 minutes of chill time alone Becky was able to FaceTime us and we closed up the night talking with her.  Now it’s time to wrap up my blog, finish a couple of more things, and off to bed.

Looking back on today there was just so much awesomeness for which I am thankful.  In addition to the above mentioned stuff there was also a lot of residual gratitude from things that happened yesterday – setting times to meet with old friends during flurries of texts, getting to know a relatively new friend much better, and so on.  Today was pretty awesome and I’m thankful for the BacMac (maybe a name for the dish?) and all of the other things that made it amazing.

Thanks!!!

 

How do you follow up a day of running ourselves ragged?  You do it again! The alarm went off at 5:30 this morning and it took some coercing from Becky to get me off the couch (while she fed the cat I went from upright to laying on the couch) and off for our run.  It started off rough, but by the time 10 miles were in the books I was feeling better than I should have.  A shower afterwards and we were off on our next adventure!

We met up with a couple of families of great friends and headed up to the Renaissance Festival.  The weather was perfect, the food was great (seriously, a BLT Hot Dog followed up with Chicken Shwarma?), the entertainment was… entertaining, and the people watching was epic!  By the time we headed back to the car everyone was totally exhausted.

The best part was spending time with my family and friends.  There were many great conversations, jokes, and experiences shared.  It’s always nice to have an excuse like the Renaissance Festival to get us all together for a day.  Thanks for the fun memories today!

Thanks!!!

There are four exhausted Kreilings in the house tonight. Shortly after this post the boys and I are going to bed, which is where Becky and the dogs already are. The first week of school is always a long one, but there were a few extra things that made today even more tiring… and almost all of them were good.

Gavin was under the weather last night so he was a little more tired than normal. He had his first soccer games today and had a lot of fun. In between games he slept on the couch. After the second game he fell asleep on the couch. We played a lot of board games and he’s not even complaining about going to bed, a sign that he’s totally exhausted.

Dominic had his first day of soccer refereeing and was outside in the sun for most of the day. Between that and a full week of cross country practice he’s toast! Pretty sure he almost fell asleep at church tonight (which at least three of the four of us did… I couldn’t see Gavin clearly or it may have been all four).

Becky had her open house for the USGS and between prepping for and attending that, her prep for her PhD, and getting ready to be in the field for the next week she is also pretty tired. It was pretty awesome that she was able to head out for a little bit with Gavin’s game.

My day was full of shuttling boys to and from games and work, working on the garage, and playing a lot of games with the boys. Tons of fun, enjoyed it, but I’m ready to crash. Bring on a 10 mile run tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll be exhausted tomorrow too!

While we’re not the most exciting family ever this Saturday night, I’m still thankful to have a house full of exhausted Kreilings. We lived life hard in a very good way and I can’t think of a better way to… zzz… zzz…

Thanks!!!

Some often in life I spend time thinking about the moment, where I am, the present.  It’s a snapshot of where I am at the moment.  When I look back there’s mental gravity pulling my mind back to specific accomplishments.

Today I was able to spend a lot of time reflecting on one of the journeys of my life.  Not the present, not an accomplishment, but the challenges, the struggles, and the mistakes I made along the way.  I spent time thinking about the journey itself, the little wins, the painful failures, the obstacles and the challenges.  In the moments in which they occurred they hurt, but in retrospect I’m thankful foe each of them.  They’ve each made me who I am, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world, flaws and all.

I’m thankful for taking time to reflect on the journey today.  It got me thinking and reminded me that if I’m not struggling in some way in life, I’m probably not trying hard enough 🙂

Thanks!!!

 

While running this morning I paused and was thankful for running in the moonlight.  There’s something so peaceful, calming, and a little magical about running in the silver beams of light.  As I paused my thoughts for a moment I started mentally writing my blog for today about running in the moonlight.

On my ride to Eau Claire this morning I paused for a few minutes as I passed through Arcadia.  As I came went up the hill into town I realized that the fog and rising sun were going to be in just about the right place for me to get an epic picture of a view that I am always thankful for as I drive by.  I pulled into the scenic turnout and was already writing my blog about being happy for stopping.  It didn’t quite work out, the shot wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but I was thankful for pausing nonetheless…  and I mentally started writing today’s blog.

Passing through Eleva I looked off to my left and enjoyed the view of the pond as I drove past.  I took the picture above once when the timing was perfect and blogged about it last year (see the post here).  This picture always makes me think of my dad, this was one of his favorite pictures that I’d taken.  He loved the way the poles looked like crosses and the serenity of the lake.  As I passed by the view was not even close to the one above, and I realized how thankful I was to have caught it at the perfect time once before.  For at least the third time in a handful of hours I started re-writing my blog in my head for the day.

Several things happened through the work day that also queued up more blog posts.  They included sharing stories of children, getting in the zone on a client project, seeing the newborn daughter of a team member, spending time with great people, having direct and open conversations with clients, an email of appreciation for by blog from another friend, and figuring out new solutions.  So many times my head started churning thinking about how I would capture each of those things I was grateful for.

The ride home got long and I felt a little bummed.  Something about driving on a grey day just got me down a little.  Right on cue, my mom called and we had fun talking the rest of the ride home.  I was thankful for having time on the phone with her and was starting to write that blog too.

At home I got frustrated with a website I was trying to order some Scouting stuff off of and both Becky and Dominic heard my frustration.  At almost the same time they both reminded me that the little amount of extra expense was not worth the frustration that I was having – take a deep breath and relax.  I was thankful for Becky being there to walk me off the ledge and I was thankful for Dominic having that level of insight.  In my head the gears were turning for possibly two different blogs.

After the Cub Scout meeting my friend Toby shared some thoughts about my blog, losing his dad, and a few other things that had me beaming.  I was thankful for his enjoyment of this blog, his understanding and sharing of stories of talking with his dad, the way he shared some of his feelings, and the way he listened.  In that moment I had the chills and was reminded of why I blog.  There were two different blogs going through my head and I was mentally writing both.

Throw in a few other conversations with friends and co-workers and there were a plethora of subjects for today’s blog.

As I sat down on the couch to type tonight I was stuck for a minute.  It wasn’t the best of days, it wasn’t bad either, but it was a day that I didn’t quite feel up the whole time like normal.  Maybe it was the drive getting to me.  Maybe it was the claustrophobia I feel when I put together a schedule and fill up my calendar like I did yesterday.  Maybe I just had a “meh” kind of day.  Regardless, I sat for a minute and just thought about what I would be thankful for…

Then one of the memories I wrote about above came in…  followed by another… followed by another…  before long I knew my path for today.  As I typed a paragraph I paused and added a paragraph, remembering something I’d almost forgotten.  Before long, I realized this was one of the longer blogs that I’d written in a while…  And I ‘m smiling like a damn fool now.  So much to be thankful for today!!!  How did I ever think it was a blah day?  Had I not paused and thought about it, looking for what I was thankful for, I might have totally missed it and just went to bed.

And that’s what I’m thankful for today.  This is why I blog daily.  It’s so easy to get lost in the humdrum of daily life that I miss out on all the awesomeness around me.  I was watching for things to be thankful for, seeking them out, appreciating them in the moment, all because I knew I would do this at the end of the day.  Today was littered with reminders of why I blog, and I am so thankful for each of them.  My life is better and I am happier and more joyful because I paused to enjoy these moments and spent time thinking about them today.  I could’ve gone to bed thinking today was kind of crap, but now I’m smiling and glad that I was granted another day of wandering the earth.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this an amazing day!  I appreciate each of you and the thinks you did to brighten it up for today.  Thank you!

Thanks!!!

I am very open about almost everything, probably to a fault. Occasionally there are days when I’m thankful for something that I don’t want to share for one of a few reasons. Usually I think of something else that I’m thankful for and blog about that while I hold the other gratitude in my head.

Today’s a little different. It really is what I am most thankful for today, and I want it to be it. That said, it’s personal and something that I’m keeping to myself today. Probably the selfish thing, but if it’s only the second time I’ve done it in almost two years I’m not going to worry about it too much 😉

Thanks!!!

While I may be a huge fan of Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story,” that’s not exactly what I am thankful for today.  It inspired me though, as it was a phrase an old friend used a handful of days ago as he told a story about my dad.  Over the past few days I’ve had the privilege of hearing several other stories of Dad, and each time I keep thinking back to that phrase, “The Rest of the Story.”

It’s kind of funny how those stories of Dad blend in with Paul Harvey’s.  As you read the Paul Harvey versions you get a chance to learn about how all of the little and easily missed details added up to the tale’s conclusion.  Once we see the conclusion we’re so easily able to go back and see how everything fit and why.  Without one or two key pieces the story would have been completely different.

Contrast that with my dad.  As I write about Dad I’m seeing more and more how few of those little details I knew of Dad.  Don’t get me wrong, I knew him very well, but there’s this bigger picture of him that I’m seeing.  Unlike the Paul Harvey version, I don’t get to know all of the details first, I just see the conclusion.  The more stories I hear of Dad the more the gaps fill in and I can see how Pete started here and ended there.  Each shared memory adds another level, a little more depth, more of the story of Pete.

It’s funny, since Dad died I’ve been realizing just how much more there was to him than just “Dad.”  Maybe it’s just me, but I always saw him through that lens.  Only after he passed and I heard more of these stories did I really start to see him as friend, sibling, church member, etc…  On a positive note, it’s helping me pause and take time to see my friends and family not just as being in that role, but in all of the roles that they have (the ones that they’ve shared, you know?).  Losing Dad is helping me take the time to pause, try to look at someone a little differently, from a different perspective, and try to understand “the rest of the story.”  So much for me to learn when I take the time to see others from a different perspective.

So today I’m thankful for “The Rest of the Story,” and all of the stories I’ve heard about Dad and other loved ones in the past week.  They’ve added a depth and perspective that only adds to my love of Dad, and all of my loved ones.  Special thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to share those stories with me, I treasure each of them!

Thanks!!!