Tales of the Ordinary Days

Zach and Nick displaying their citations received on our hike outside Denver Recently in the middle of some light conversation, my oldest son, Zach, brought up my blog topics. He was quick to point out his perception of my favoritism toward his younger brothers. Although the banter was all in fun, I had to defend myself. His interpretation was obviously inaccurate. But my 'fly below radar' eldest doesn't miss a beat. I accepted the fact that if we were to count, he would not win as the featured son in blog posts. A funny correlation since Zach is probably is the son I see the most of these days. This resulted in me pointing out that he has the most picture posts on FaceBook and Instagram with all of our Denver outings of recent months. "Good Lord, Mother, I really don't care" was his response. Although in jest, the conversation did get me to think about my oldest and our time together. Over the last nine months, I have been able to spend time with

A couple of days ago we had a team meeting at work. The main topic centered around serving our patients and what good service really meant. My heart tugged at the core theme of our conversation, kindness. Real, authentic, daily acts of kindness. Stories were told on both the receiving and giving of good service. All included a genuine act of goodwill to serve another. With purity of motive in simply wanting to care for another, an act of kindness cannot be measured in the size of the deed. The smallest actions can produce the largest rewards to the recipient. I shared a story of kindness given to a client in my prior life that later blossomed into a big business opportunity for me. My original act had no motive, but resulted in an unexpected gift back many years later. As others shared stories of good service and the importance of authenticity in our actions, my head swirled with my own receipt of small acts of kindness over my lifetime. These acts resonated with me and my own

It's hard to believe that just a week ago we were celebrating the marriage of Russell and Megan in the balmy sandy beaches of Mexico. A beautiful love story, but whirlwind vacation; all wrapped up into one. It began with our late night arrival to the Beach Palace Resort in Cancun. Our flight was late and the rehearsal dinner, well under way, by the time our airport transportation delivered us to our vacation destination. We caught up with family and friends before locating our room with lagoon view. As Garrett and I unpacked our bags and discussed the Michael Jackson impersonator concert being held at the resort bar, I eyed a bottle of red wine and a really big tub in the middle of our room. I chose to stay in our room over the Michael Jackson show. Although Garrett is more of an 'early-nighter' than me, he reluctantly agreed. "You know, they will think I am holding you back when this is your idea" was his final input to me. I still choose the solit

I'm in Cancun and just experienced the beautiful wedding of Russell Lane III and his lovely bride, Megan. I had never been to a destination wedding before. A first for me and a first for Garrett. Although a gorgeous setting and reprieve from the Nebraska snow we left behind, not all invited guests could make the trek to the Caribbean. I quickly found that destination weddings may be low in attending guest count, but high in level of enthusiasm. We were in the middle of a tropical playground. The focal point  of the trip was the marriage of Russell and Megan. There wasn't a dry eye on the rooftop as the adorable couple shared their personally written vows with whimpering voices and loving emotion. I sat back and smiled, reflecting on the day Russell was born into the world and the number of people around me who shared in his boyhood. Yes, Baby Russ got married. It feels like yesterday that a very pregnant Robbie called announcing she had lost her 'mucus plug'.