On one of my more recent flights, I had nine hours straight to
think. Of all things contemplated during that time, I decided that I want to do
more writing of my experiences in the day to day. While my life isn’t that
crazy cool compared to some, I do get to experience some neat things outside of
Bolivar, MO. I don’t know that my boys will ever go back and read the family
blog, but one day I hope they will and that they will be able to understand
what was going on in my life while I was gone.
While technology, social media, etc. seems to enable the
ease of communication with friends, I somehow manage to completely lose track
of people in the daily hustle of life. Where the time goes I’m not sure. But, I
always look forward to the surprise visit with a friend in an airport, dinner
in NYC, golf in San Francisco, or wherever the meeting may take place. When I
started my job years ago, I would have thought these random meetings to be a
far stretch. But, in fact, they’ve become quite common. These visits have in
some ways created an adventure of their own as I never know who will be next!
While Carey does a great job of updating pictures, stories
of our family, etc., I wanted to take the opportunity to say that I’ve seen the
Lord’s blessing all over our family this year. We’ve all gone through a number
of challenges together and on our own, and we’ve been able to rally as a family
and stick together. We continue to work together, make adjustments, and thrive.
In the past, I struggled to understand how family life could be more than work.
But now I know. I have seen first-hand how God is using trials in our history
for His glory. I love my family dearly and am completely blessed every day to
be part of their lives. Being a husband and father has never been more fulfilling
and I know we’re at the start of the greatest adventure of our lives.
This year has brought about many changes to our family, and
also to me individually. One of those changes is that I’ve been reminded of how
important friends are. There are so many great men around me via work, church,
etc. and I’ve neglected many friendships in the past few years. While I’m
working to restore those friendships, one group of friends has been especially
meaningful to me this summer. Dale Sargent, Ira Brown, and John Jones have all
had a big impact on me over the years as we’ve spent countless hours ‘in the
saddle’ while touring the back roads of Polk County and beyond. We’ve all
regrouped and been riding quite a bit together this summer and it’s been a
great outlet for me. There is something about the suffering of hard training
rides that seems to build a bond. These guys have offered tremendous
encouragement and support, challenge me physically, intellectually, and
spiritually, and have been great friends. Some rides are quiet, some are filled
with talking on all subjects, and some we’re laughing so hard we can barely
pedal. With the first ‘cross race of the season this weekend in Herman, MO, I’m
excited about the many months to come of continued training and racing with
these guys.
Speaking of laughing with the guys, one of my favorite
stories of the year so far was a morning of MTB riding down at the SAC. After a
few hours of riding in the summer heat, we were headed back home. While driving
back to Bolivar, at one of the major highway intersections, we see a truck is
stranded in the middle. Traffic has begun to slow down and things are beginning
to jam up. John pulls over in the middle of the island and we all jump out to
help push the guys truck back off the road. As the pushing ends and the driver
expresses his gratitude for our help, we all notice, in unison, that the guy’s
girlfriend in the truck is really laughing. I guess we didn’t notice while
pushing, and I’m not really sure it hit us until we were walking back to John’s
truck. And then we get it. John and Dale are sweat / dirt covered from the
ride, Ira’s in shoes and bib shorts only (with the straps down), and I’ve got
nothing but my bib shorts and heart rate monitor on. Not even shoes. As a
bystander watching while they waited in traffic, I can’t imagine what was going
through their mind. With great memories like this made nearly every day we’re
all together, the rest of the year is going to be a blast.
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