I’ve told this story many times before and you can check it out in more detail here in case today’s post doesn’t quite cover it all as I take it in a slightly different direction.

Exactly 17 years ago today Becky agreed to go on a date with me.  We were both standing up in a wedding together and had only met the night before.  After the wedding rehearsal I thought she was kind of a nerd, she was talking about school and her field trips for college.  She thought I was kind of a dorky loser for many reasons (most for good reason!).  During the wedding ceremony itself I looked across the aisle and saw Becky.  She looked at me, we made eye contact, and she smiled.  At that moment my entire life changed.  I just knew she and I were meant to be together, no questions, really that simple.   As the Counting Crows put it in their song Long December, “All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl.”  That smile lit up my life like no other moment.  Later that night while I was riding home with my parents I told them that I had met the girl I was going to marry.   On a funny side note, you know what Becky’s first impression of that smile was?  She remembered the moment as well, seeing me look over at her and smile.  The only difference was that while I was falling in love she was thinking, “oh shit, he likes me.”  True story!

This weekend was a pretty excellent three day weekend.  It was filled with pretty much everything I enjoy.  My family, my friends, and a little creating (and blogging!).  As I was thinking about today’s post I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with too many ideas of what to choose from.  We had a great time with friends at Oktoberfest yesterday after running our half marathon.  My mom and stepBrad hung out with Steve & Kathy, and Becky & I last night.  This morning we hung out, ran errands, spent some time working on a wood working project, and had a never ending round of fun texts with friends.  I played some pretty epic Four Square with my boys and had a lot of fun giggling away.  Supper as a family and now finishing a movie together.  So many awesome things, so much time with people I love, just a great weekend.

As I really thought about it and kept thinking about the smile from 7 years ago it struck me like a bolt of lightning.  Had that one smile not happened, none of this weekend would have.  I have no idea where I would be or who I would be had I missed that smile, had I not acted on that smile, had I not followed my heart on that smile.

That smile is why I live in La Crosse.  That smile is why I have two amazing boys.  That smile is why I have my entire group of friends in La Crosse.  That smile is why I left my least job almost 17 years ago and started my career with Express.  That smile has impacted my life in such a profound way that it blows my mind.

Maybe I’d be happy somewhere else or with someone else.  Maybe I’d have a great family, great friends, and a great career.  Maybe, but I doubt it.  I’ll never know for sure, but I can’t imagine being happier than I am today.  That was the smile that lit up my life and made me happiest.  While today I am thankful for it publicly in this blog, every day I am ecstatic that I happened to gaze across the aisle at a wedding to see a beautiful smile that set me free and started me on a path of happiness.

Thanks for smiling at me 17 years ago Becky!!!

Our half marathon was today and it went pretty well!  Becky and I had a goal of finishing, there was no expectation of time.  That said, we were pretty pumped with our time!  It might not have been nearly as good as our personal bests, but it felt pretty good.  In previous posts I’ve talked about enjoying the journey, and this was one of the times when I’ve truly enjoyed the journey (training miles with Becky) and the destination (finishing the run).  It feels very rewarding and I’m ready to set a new running goal with Becky in order to start our next journey, but maybe I’ll wait a week and enjoy riding bike instead. 🙂

We took off much faster than we normally would and I could feel it earlier than normal.  As the race continued I started to hurt and wanted to slow down.  Every time I did there was a smiling, happy face asking me “how are you feeling?”  As I wanted to slow down on a hill towards the end I watched a way too excited and happy Becky bouncing up the same hill literally running up it backwards encouraging me to keep going and catch up!  It was crazy!!!  She was pried and ready to go and wasn’t going to be stopped by anything.  She also wasn’t going to let me get stopped by anything, and I appreciate that.  It was a pretty cool reversal of roles from about 7 years ago when we ran our first half marathon together and was the upbeat happy one with too much energy.  While at times her energy and happiness drove me nuts, but I totally appreciate it and am thankful for it.  Had it not been for her crazy positive attitude I wouldn’t have made it nearly as quickly as we did.  That’s one of the things I have really loved about our relationship, we seem to do a great job of being able to help balance each other out.  When one is down the other is up and helps get them into the same mindset.

While I may be kind of a hurting unit with stiff legs now, it was an excellent run.  The destination lived up to the journey.  My wife amazed me yet again with her incredible energy and enthusiasm.  It has been a pretty awesome day already and it’s not even close to done.

Thanks!!!

Today was a little different than the standard day at the office.  Everything started about the same, morning run, get the boys ready for school and so on.  Instead of hopping in the car to go to work Becky and I picked up the Bloors and headed over to Steinhaus to celebrate Oktoberfest!

After a German breakfast and a couple of beers we headed out to the parade for the Golden Keg.

We chilled out and waited for the parade…

And waited…

After the parade we headed to the Fest Grounds and had a great time hanging out, listening to music, running into random friends, and maybe enjoying a few beverages.

The weather was perfect, the food was great, the beer was cold, and the company was a lot of fun.  It was a great day at Oktoberfest and I’m glad we all took some time away to enjoy it!

Thanks!!!

Today I am thankful for Safety Mom.

Nope, that’s not her real name, but I’ve definitely called her that many more times than her real name.  Safety Mom was one of my adult leaders in Boy Scouts.  I can’t remember her official title, but I can tell you that unofficially she was (is?) Safety Mom.  Safety Mom was at pretty much every single Boy Scout outing that I can remember.  She was always watching out for us, taking care of us, and making sure we were having an excellent time.

There are a few reasons I am thankful for Safety Mom today.  It all starts with a conversation with one of my nephews several weeks ago.  He’s in Boy Scouts and at one point he pulled me aside and asked if I knew someone that was one of his leaders.  As soon as he described her I just smiled.  Yes, I do know her and she was one of the biggest reasons I had a great time in scouting.  It was kind of funny, in the moment as a kid of course I appreciated her, but it wasn’t until I had my own boys and helped out a little with scouts (minuscule compared to her volunteer time) that I really appreciated just how much of her time and energy she put into helping scouts.  Looking back I can’t even begin to count how many hours she volunteered to help us out on our many adventures.  When I start to think about how many years have passed since I was in scouting and realize she’s still there helping it is nothing short of amazing.

One time we were on a winter camp out and were sledding.  A couple of my friends and I thought it would be a fun idea to pile onto a sled three scouts high and then go down the huge hill.  Being the one on top I saw the tree first and bailed, pretty sure I screamed to alert my friends as I did (whether or not it was to help them out or because I was scared is irrelevant, right?).  The friend under me saw it and rolled just in time.  The third wasn’t so lucky and crashed sideways into the tree.  To be safe, we had to take him to the ER to get checked out.  Safety Mom drove, and the three of us were on our way.  Everything checked out fine (for the most part) and we were back on our way to camp.  The reason I bring up this story is that it was one of the first times I can remember a non-family member actually talking with me like an adult.  We shared stories, ideas, dreams, and advice.  She was awesome!  I’d love to be a fly on the wall to re-live that conversation.  There was just something there that made me feel like I was actually maturing.  She didn’t water things down or treat me like the kid I was, she treated me with the respect of an adult and I really appreciated that.  Kind of funny how  random conversation can linger for decades, isn’t it?

So over the past month or so there’ve been several nudges towards this post.  My nephew was one, the start of the new scouting season was another.  There was also memories of her in my head as I was putting together our den meeting plans for this year and that reminded me of the biggest reason I am thankful for her.  Her smile.  She was always smiling – always!  She was a never ending source of positive energy that made you happy, even in crappy situations.  Her passion for scouting and helping us grow was incredible and shown through in everything that she did for us.  I use the past tense because of what I remember, but I’d bet anything that she’s still the same way today.  Even in our infrequent Facebook conversations I can read the smile on her face.  It’s kind of funny, she’s one of those people who’s laugh I can hear crystal clear in my memories.  How she was able to help so much and dedicate so much of her time while still being so happy continues to be an inspiration to me as I lead my little den.  Regardless of how off track things may occasionally go I can usually think back to a big Safety Mom smile and put my own smile on, remembering that it’s not about me and my plans, it’s about the boys and helping them grow.

Thank you for all that you did and continue to do to help many of us Scouts grow into adulthood.  You’re a source of inspiration to us that continues to get passed on to the Scouts and children in our lives.  Thank you for sharing so much of your time, energy, passion and smiles with us!

Thanks!!!