Tales of the Ordinary Days

I am sitting on the back deck of a Chicago flat in Wrigleyville (while listening to Van Halen's Panama blaring from Ben's phone). The boys, now ripe ages of 24, 21, and 17, are celebrating a big Cubs win as the boys share their stories with each other after a weekend of brotherhood. I quietly smile and type away at my computer. I am purely background music to the buzz of their conversation. Ben asks me what it was like in the 80's when I was their age (his phone is now playing Kansas' Carry on my Wayward Son). Curiosity runs rampant as they ask what is it was like to be a 20 year old in 1987. "What was Dad like in college?" "What did you do at parties? Did they play good music?" An entire conversation continues on a like vs a dislike for rap music ('trap music' per Ben). Grant and Ben exchange notes on their high school days. Zach's comments clearly reflect how much times have changed within the seven years age difference bet...

Boys playing a charade game in the back seat in route to Vegas I went to bed last night planning on writing a blog about my three sons. The story in my mind centered around my observations of their spending time together again. Brotherly bonding for them. Heart warming for me. And then I awoke to terrible news. Our friends' son died tragically last night. My parenting perspective quickly changed from one of warm fuzzies to a feeling of complete disbelief and heartache. Life can be so cruel. God has a plan and although that plan inevitably includes death, it is so difficult to grasp the death of the someone so young and so full of good. Perspective. Life changing overnight is a wake up call to embrace the fullness of life. We do this by centering ourselves around the people in our lives who really matter, while walking away from the noise that holds us back. So often we get caught up in our daily routines without perspective in our focus. We need to be more like the you...