This morning I changed things up and went for a bonus run instead of hiking. I knew I wanted to be outside, but I wanted to get a little extra sleep. If I hike I have to drive 10-15 minutes there and the same back. By going for a run I still got my outside time and the benefit of a few extra minutes of sleep. Definitely the right choice.

Becky was lifting so I went on my first solo run in quite a while. I figured it’d be a good time to experiment so I used the session as a nice little running lab. Focusing on heart rate I decided to see how close to 137 I could keep it. That was more difficult than I’d expected as slowing down too much caused it to drop rapidly. Before the halfway point I decided to finish the run without breathing through my mouth – nose breathing only. That was wild! I was almost forced to maintain a pace that kept my heart rate below 138. All in all – it felt great to experiment and bring some freshness to my run.

There’s been a song stuck in my head over the last week and a half. I’ve liked it since the first time I’d heard it but our recent backpacking trip really enhanced it for me. The song is Frozen Pines by Lord Huron. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/fG_WCN3PdZk Fantastic song that gets me thinking about the forest we walked through in the Porcupine Mountains.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had a few reminders of the importance of one of the behaviors I’m focused on in 2021 – being a better listener. I can get very excited about things and talk everyone’s ears off. I’m focusing on how to listen more often, more intently, and more actively. What I’m finding is that I’m often getting so much more out of conversations now and I’m enjoying hearing more about the lives of others. I’ve got a long way to go but I’m already seeing how much more joyful life is when I listen more often. I’m also realizing how much I appreciate people who already are talented at this skill. A seemingly perfect conversation is such a delicate balance and dance of getting all parties involved while all listening significantly more in proportion to the number of people. There is so much for me to work on, though I’m already seeing I’m much more often listening intently rather than waiting for my time to talk. Small steps forward but I’m very grateful for them.

Thanks!!!

It definitely feels a lot more like a Sunday than a Monday. That said, it’s still a Monday which means it is an exercise day. Becky and I opted for a 20-ish mile bike ride instead of our typical run.

Talk about an exhilarating time! Getting out on my bike was totally the right call today. The sun was out and we hit the road when it was about 60 degrees out. The clouds where whispy and provided the right amount of shade. Birds were everywhere on the trail, flying and singing. At one point there were a couple of huge rabbits playing on the trail in front of us. The views from the bottom of the valley were as wonderful as they always are.

In addition to the views it was awesome to get back on the bike for a longer distance. This winter I’d been riding it in the living room on the bike trainer 2-3 times per week. Once the weather got a little nicer I switched gears to hiking with a pack on instead. I was a little nervous how my biking shape was going to be for this first ride but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. My legs are a little tired now, but they felt awesome during the ride itself. Pretty sure I had at least another 10 miles in me! Not too shabby for the first time of the season.

So much to be grateful for on the first ride today. Everything went smooth. The ride was awesomely peaceful. Becky and I got a mini date in on the bike trail. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Thanks!!!

Another first in the Kreiling house today – Gavin drove the boat for the first time since passing boater’s safety. It’s crazy to think he’s now old enough to take control of our boat. Seems like only a couple of years ago we picked up our boat and we would watch him sleep on the deck after a busy day on the sandbar. Now he can drive while I sleep on the boat after a long day of sitting in the sun. 😉

The boys keep getting older and older – each first reminds me of that fact. Dad always said time would keep going by faster and faster, each day it seems like he was even more right than the day before. I am grateful for these firsts as they remind me to pause and think about how much they’re growing and maturing.

Congrats on a successful first run on the boat Gavin, you did great!

Thanks!!!

Another first in the Kreiling house today – Gavin drove the boat for the first time since passing boater’s safety. It’s crazy to think he’s now old enough to take control of our boat. Seems like only a couple of years ago we picked up our boat and we would watch him sleep on the deck after a busy day on the sandbar. Now he can drive while I sleep on the boat after a long day of sitting in the sun. 😉

The boys keep getting older and older – each first reminds me of that fact. Dad always said time would keep going by faster and faster, each day it seems like he was even more right than the day before. I am grateful for these firsts as they remind me to pause and think about how much they’re growing and maturing.

Congrats on a successful first run on the boat Gavin, you did great!

Thanks!!!

One of the positives to come from the COVID era was family hiking. We put on way more miles as a family last year than we had in any year previous – probably more than the two or three previous years combined. One of the ways we found solace from everything being shut down was to get out on the trails as a family.

This weekend is a big one for us as there are many “firsts” for us since March of 2020. We’re all amazed at how weird things feel for a minute or two but when how regular and normal everything seems within a matter of minutes.

Late this morning, in the middle of getting back to normal, we opted to take a lesson from 2020’s normal and get out on the trails. It was awesome! Perfect hiking weather. Cool. Sunny. Quiet. Perfect.

While life gets back to more and more normal I’m grateful for pockets of new normal we created during COVID that we’ll continue into our new old normal 😉.

Thanks!!!

Another easy night of blogging for me tonight! there were a handful of serious things at work I am grateful for today, but two very simple things really take the cake today.

Gavin and Dominic each have a friend sleeping over tonight. This is the first time in well over 15 months that they’ve had friends over for the night. Hearing them talk and joke has me smiling as I type tonight. It’s nice hearing them having fun and getting back to get another piece of normalcy.

With the boys taking over the upstairs Becky and I have retreated to our bedroom so the boys have space. After our post dinner walk I laid on the bed with a book. Becky brought LuLu up on the bed and she snuggled right in. Within a short period of time I caught my eyes closing to match her sleepiness. After I’m done blogging I might just give in and sleep too. Laying on my back with LuLu snuggled up and using my leg as a pillow is about the perfect way to wrap up the night.

Thanks!!!

Tonight’s blog post is going to be a quick one in a very fitting way. I’m tired, it’s past my bedtime, and I’m smiling all the way. The reason I’m going to bed late is exactly what I’m grateful for today… I was hanging out with friends and gaming IRL (IN REAL LIFE)!!!

Spending time all hanging out in person and not in front of a Zoom screen was nothing short of awesome. For half a second it seemed surreal, but then it felt like it always used to. Another one of those crazy time warp feels created by COVID.

Yup, I stayed up too late and I’ll be a bit tired tomorrow. All good by me, it was worth every single yawn tomorrow to be back to normal.

Thanks!!!

There’s no real way to ease into this one tonight so I’m going to jump right in.

This morning while I was reading the news on the AP News website an article caught my attention. As I read it I became increasingly angry. My mind struggled to comprehend what had taken place almost 100 years ago. A minimum of 36 lives lost due to hateful violence (and possibly as many as 300). What I was reading about was The Tulsa Race Massacre:

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-1921-100-years-later-3bc13e842c31054a90b6d1c81db9d70c

If you aren’t willing to commit to the entire article, I can sum up the hateful activity in one short paragraph from the article:

“More than 35 city blocks were leveled, an estimated 191 businesses were destroyed, and roughly 10,000 Black residents were displaced from the neighborhood where they’d lived, learned, played, worked and prospered.”

AP News – https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-1921-100-years-later-3bc13e842c31054a90b6d1c81db9d70c

Want your blood pressure to rise a little more? Just in case that paragraph doesn’t get you thinking “what the hell,” here’s another fun fact… No white person has ever been imprisoned for taking part in the massacre.

If you want more information you can find another article discussing the massacre here: https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre

How this was never shared in history class blows my mind. When I brought it up with a couple of different groups of friends there were only a few who’d heard of this event, and they’d only heard about it recently.

Our country has made mistakes in the past, huge mistakes. We can’t go back in time to fix them, they’ve already happened. The least we can do is engage in honest dialogue and remember the mistakes that were made. In knowing and remembering we can work to prevent making them again. By erasing them we’re doomed to repeat them.

Today, while I’m seething with anger that this hasn’t been taught, I am thankful for finally learning about an event I should have known about decades ago. At least now I have more of the truth and can see more clearly the past as it was, not as others would portray it to be.

Thanks!!!

During my drive to work today I caught myself smiling. Here I was, first work day back from our backpacking trip with a huge pile of tasks to complete and I was smiling. How crazy is that? Quite often the first day back is a white knuckle drive with teeth grinding as I rapidly work through everything that has been piling up since I left. Today? I was smiling.

The entire drive consisted of viewing the bluffs and the river as a tourist, taking in the beauty of the colors of nature. I had a wonderful forest related song mix playing on my stereo. Each song brought back different memories from our recent trip. I occasionally thought of the work day ahead and smiled. I’d just spent a few days living out of a backpack, filtering water from lakes and streams, carrying my only earthly possessions at the time literally on my back, and the bathroom… you get the idea 😉. Work? That’s easy!

Over the past year and a half five really seen an interesting correlation. My state of chill is exponentially proportional to the amount of time I’ve recently spent in the wild. More forest, way more relaxed. More hiking in nature, way more chill. More fresh air in the woods, much lower blood pressure.

This past weekend brought about one of the most profound states of chill I’ve had in a very long time. It’s memory is so fresh in my head. The last hike seared into my brain and soul.

Thanks!!!

One of the parts of backpacking and camping I enjoy least is the clean up and packing up of gear after the trip. Cleaning the mud off everything, wiping things down, hanging up everything to dry, re-packing, and sorting through everything before sorting is not nearly as exciting as the trip itself. It’s so easy to put it off, let it ride, and decide to get back to it later. Relaxing and chilling sounds so much better, right?

Way back in the day my parents always reminded me of how important it was to put up the tent to dry immediately after camping in Scouts. Before I could do anything else I had to put up the tent in the garage or out in the yard to make sure it was dry. Once dry I’d then go out, roll I up, and pack it into the bag so it was ready for the next Scout meeting. Over my years of Scouting this became habit.

Today I started packing everything away, getting it ready for its next use, and making note of what to do differently next trip. It would have been nice to kick back and chill or work on a handful of other things, but that was what I needed to knock off my list before I moved on to anything else.

You know what’s weird? I really appreciated the process of doing that today. The sense of accomplishment was rewarding and it helped me get more excited for the next trip. With everything fresh in my head I was able to make a few adjustments in packing that I would have most likely forgotten in a day or two, only to remember after I’d already re-packed. I was able to listen to an audio book while doing it and the movement helped keep me fresh and loose.

Crazy how sometimes things in life seem like a chore while other times they are peaceful and relaxing. What’s the difference? My attitude. 100%. If I choose to see it as rewarding, the right thing to do, and remind myself of how important it is I’ll find it much more rewarding while I do it. Nice reminder of a great life lesson.

Thanks!!!