I know, I just wrote about my reading list last night, but it really stuck with me again today! As I started to re-re-read Once a Runner by John L. Parker the reasons I added this book to the list came roaring back almost immediately. The entire story is built on the main character, Quenton Cassidy, and his nonstop grit that powers him towards his dream. Throughout the book one can’t help but get motivated and want to get out on a run, letting the legs fly, and enjoying every moment of it.
More importantly, there is the nonstop drive, the resilience, the grit that keeps showing over and over and over again. The quote below is one instance of that lesson driven home.
The only true way is to marshal the ferocity of your ambition over the course of many days, weeks, months, and (if you could finally come to accept it) years. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.
Once a Runner, John L. Parker
The story itself is fantastic, a little out there, a bit obvious, but pulls me in tight through each reading. Definitely a sweatshirt book if I’ve ever read one! Three times this year will be enough for this one, but it will be back again in 2027 for sure.
Appreciation & Presence:
Last night as I was prepping for bed I stumbled across these two photos:
Two photos of our boys on our 2018 family trip to Isle Royale National Park with a pit stop at Split rock Lighthouse north of Duluth. Both pics show them taking in the moment: stillness and absorption in wonder in one, active and enjoying the world around them in the other. In both they are looking ahead, seeing the world, exploring the life that lay ahead of them.
In front of them the landscape looks timeless and vast, never-ending even as it disappears into the horizon, but these photos remind us of how fleeting those moments were. At the time we were out exploring, hiking, laughing, and creating memories together. None of us realized just how quickly those moments would fly by.
Becky and I wanted to take them to places out in nature and outdoors so they would grow up knowing that there is so much wonder to be found in the world, so much life to explore, and that those moments are made all the better when shared with loved ones.
Here we are eight years later and they’ve both moved out and are off to college. They’ve each started making their own paths in the world, and we couldn’t be more proud of the young men they have grown into.
As I look back so fondly on these photos I realize the moments they hold are like insects suspended in amber, memories preserved forever. The nature and views are majestic and full of wonder, but what I love the most are the reminders of all of those moments we shared together as a family, the experiences side by side.
There are times I wish I could go back in time and sit on the bench beside them, looking out over the seeming infinity of Lake Superior together. I wish I could pick up rocks on the shoreline and skip them across the lake together. Those moments have passed, but I’m grateful for being present in each of them them while it was happening.
All of this was going through my head as I lay in bed looking at those two photos last night, happy tears streaming down my face. I was so moved by the memories, so appreciative of the chance to have created them.
Then I had another thought. I paused, swallowed hard, and pulled up one more photo, and then the tears flowed more…
I just stared at Dad’s face, the smile on it as he created a love-filled memory with his son, while his son created a love-filled memory with his sons.
As I stared at that picture of us in the treehouse we had just built together, I wept. That treehouse, those trips, raising those boys: none of it happened in a single day. It was our own Trial of Miles, built moment by moment over years that went by far too fast. And Dad walked those miles with me long before I walked them with my boys. What he gave me in that treehouse, I tried to give them on the shores of Lake Superior.
Now I can’t wait for all the adventures Becky and I still have ahead with our boys, all the moments we have yet to share.
My heart is so full of joy, gratitude, and love that it feels about to burst. I’ve been so blessed to have shared so many moments with those I love, and I am grateful for each of them.
