Your kids are beautiful.

A chance meeting with a friend a few days ago, brightened my attitude more than expected.

I had just gotten back from an MRI; mentally I needed to get some exercise and get my mind off of the fact that I’m in need of yet another look at my knee by professionals.  Once inside the gym, I saw a friend; one that I had been pretty close to at one time for a short period.  We talked for several minutes about knee injuries and recovering from them; I met his wife for the first time; and I was able to get a good boost of positive feelings from this conversation.  He’s a very positive person.

As I worked my knee on the bike, I thought about our conversation and how things could turn out very differently than the negative way I was portraying them to now be.  The outcome of the MRI was uncertain and it scared me.

Just before he left, he pointed at me and hollered across the room, “Your kids are beautiful”, and he started to walk towards the door.  The whole room turned to look at me, all of them smiling.  My first thought was to look at them and say, “They really are”, but instead I looked back at Mark and said, “Thank you, they enjoy seeing you every week”.

I didn’t think much more about my knee the rest of the day.  I thought about my kids and my wife.  I thought about how much they mean to me and no matter how messed up my knee is, I still have them in my life.  I’m more thankful for those three kids and my beautiful wife than I ever could be for a knee.

What are you thankful for this week?

 

…running through my mind…

Soccer Practice

Cold, Windy and Damp are the best ways to describe this Saturday morning.  So I sit in my vehicle – instead of watching from the metal bleachers - and watch my 7-year-old at soccer practice.  Usually there are other adults to talk with and other sounds to keep my mind occupied, but this morning from the quietness of this vehicle, I let my mind wonder.  I wonder what has happened to those 7 years since this boy of mine was born.  It feels as though only a few months ago he was spitting up and laughing afterwards….only a few months ago he was crawling.

I now see him dribbling the ball, doing his exercises with the other players and kicking the ball more accurately than myself.  I see his motivation to get better at the game.  I see the excitement he has to interact with his friends and teammates.  I don’t know the right word for this….priveledged……blessed…..lucky…..I’m not sure what the word is, but I feel like I have just witnessed something.  If I would not have watched him – with all of myself – this morning, I would have missed more of those 7 years. 

Multi-tasking had been the crux of my daily life for many years now. I can’t explain how great I feel, that I was able – for a short period of time – to put down all the other issues I usually have on my mind and just watch my boy at soccer practice. 

When was the last time you just sat and watched someone you love do something that they love?

Not just another Hotel Room

Another hotel room; another overnight bag that I have unpacked; another set of clothes that I have ironed, laying out; another wi-fi system that is marginal; another day away from my family; another dirty, dingy rental car; another, another, another…… 

This is the way I was looking at life just a few short months ago.  I wasn’t really looking for a meaning in life; I was just looking for the experience of being alive.  I just didn’t feel alive when I was away from my family; life away from them was getting pretty boring.

A fact of my life, is that I have chosen a career that keeps me from my family at times.  I have always missed them, but when away I could always do something to make me feel alive.  Wether it was work, hiking, biking, running, hanging at the hotel lobby bar, visiting friends or just doing stuff with the crew; I could always find something to do that was not boring.  For me, this job got terribly boring a few months ago.

As I sit in this hotel room tonight though, I look out at the lights of Wichita, Kansas and I see potential, hope, new experiences, and a new passion for something I have always loved to do.  I just get to approach this career that I love, from a different vantage point.  And I get this feeling from doing something as boring as revising a document that has been passed on from several people.  Now it is on my desk for me to put my fingerprint on – to attach my personality to it.  I’m humbled that someone want’s my opinion and values it – outside of my family and my friends. 

Tonight, I don’t sit in just another hotel room. 

…running through my mind…