Tales of the Ordinary Days

Stuff. Tonight was date night. A very nice reprieve. And as always, there's a lot of stuff going on. Dogs to walk. Kids to raise. Employees to lead. Buildings to build. Flowers to water. Stuff. Lots of stuff. There are trainers by day and long-time friends by morning. New friends sprinkled throughout. Runs in the morning. Gym dates when we can work them in. And work to get done. All the time. Kids with stuff. Kids getting older. Parents getting older. Places to see. Pictures not yet taken. Full calendars, but yards and animals that still need tending. With many invitations for stuff full of other things and other people, tonight stayed true to us with Thursday night date night. Margaritas. Chips. Smiles. Sneezes. World problem solving and just plain trying to figure out our collective seven kids. Texts from the road and the football field. School updates and planned events for the weekend. Time never stands still. Constant movement. Work together. Every Wednesd...

Larry's in town. And we're having a good time. He started with a flight into Denver last Friday and has been tagging along our busy schedules ever since. Last night was a fundraiser in Omaha and then late-night sushi. Today is Husker football and Cabela's. Tomorrow is our last day of the Larry tour, so I believe a grill out is in order. For those who haven't met Larry, he's Garrett's dad. He and I have had a special bond from day one. We first met five years ago in Garrett's Denver kitchen. I had flown in to visit while Larry was doing the same. Garrett chose to surprise his dad with my later entry. At that point in Garrett and my early relationship, Larry knew of me, but knew little about me. He later said what he knew was "my son had stars in his eyes when he met you". In Garrett's defense, my mom later independently countered with "she fell fast. I never saw her fall for someone like that". So as Garrett and I were falling...

Some B-day flowers and balloons for good measure :) "You say it's your birthday. It's my birthday too, yeah...." My birthday is was technically yesterday. Birthday Weekend. And I love having my birthday. I love everything about. I'm grateful for my parents birthing me mid-September. A glorious time to celebrate being born. My memories are filled with sunny, but cooling, transitional days from summer into fall. As an adult, this annual celebration has most times been in the enjoyment of the outdoors with much anticipated first-of-fall weather. Last year's milestone was exceptional as I watched my son collect a football win under an orange moon sky. Friends gathered before and after this high school event as I donned my gift of a pink tiara. Birthdays of days past have included Husker football tailgates and wine with friends on the restaurant patios. A 40th b-day golf celebration was filled with a dozen friends on an otherwise tranquil Thursday nig...

Summer of 2008 ~ before the pool was drained Today as we drove home from the kids' various sporting events, Jake noticed that the neighborhood pool had a vacant parking lot. He asked if it was closed or opened, as he noticed there was water still in the pool. "They probably haven't drained the pool yet" was Garrett's answer. Although this answer was full of father logic and small talk; unknowing to the others in the car, it struck a nerve with me. A similar comment was made to me six years ago at the close of summer that year. The timing was sometime around Labor Day as this typically corresponds with annual pool draining. "They've got to have that damn pool drained by now" was the comment. And I'll never forget it. My kind counselor had tried using typical professional jargon in attempts to convince me to move on during that fateful summer. I wasn't following his good advice. In exasperation, he made this side comment. His ...