This year was a special birthday. Andie, Chad, Connor and Celia spent the week with us at the lake. It was so much fun to show them the lake life and have some quality time to catch up and just let the kids be kids.
The only downside was that fact that we all shared a stomach virus during the week - so there were a lot of ups and downs (of various kinds). Unfortunately, I was sick on your birthday so it wasn't the best day of doting you've ever had, but in typical form you didn't complain.
This year we're in the full swing of life with four active kids - you're working, running, volunteering and commuting a whole lot right now. I feel like we've settled into lake life now - we know how to schedule vacations to maximize our time together, we've discovered that sometimes the best thing is to skip the huge family dinners and focus on our small family (and sometimes the opposite is true as well). We're enjoying the deck (which Dee and I stained first thing this summer). And I know we both think of your dad every time we sit down with a newspaper, beer and lunch.
Work feels more like work than it used to for you right now. You've settled into a phase of your career that has been challenging as well as freeing. You're taking a little more vacation, trying to enjoy the perks of running with the guys at lunch, and remembering how nice it is to work so close to home.
We've done a lot of races together this year - a few of which I needed extra encouragement to get through. We're doing a duathalon, two triathalons and half marathon this summer. We're running a 25K in the fall and finishing with the Twin Cities Marathon in October.
We've both said that training seemed harder this year. We've been pretty good about staying on schedule (you better than me), but its been harder with Thomas at such an active age. But I'm proud of us for sticking it out and doing this together. You're getting faster all the time - very few men can say that as they approach 40, they're actually improving their flexibility and speed. You are amazing.
All I can say is that I am so grateful for you, for this life we've been given. Every day is a present we get to share and I can't wait to see what this next year has in store.
I love you, Happy, Happy Birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment