Loving Life

I have a job now. It started on Monday. I'm a middle school girls track coach! I applied for the job on a complete whim and forgot to realize that there wouldn't be an overwhelming number of people jumping to get that job. A few hours after applying I found myself with the title of "Track Coach". Though I love running and am passionate about it, I have never coached it before in my life. Thankfully, I accepted the job on the condition that my old high school cross country coach also be a coach. He's amazing and was a super influential person in my life. His knowledge of all things running is vast. So though technically I'm the head 7th grade girls coach and he's the head 8th grade girls coach, I'm more of his assistant and help keep him organized and running smoothly while being a female coach in the midst of a sea of girls. So it's been going well and I'm having fun and hopefully I'll learn to be a good coach. With Aaron also coaching the...

A week ago today, my grandpa Cleo passed away. He was 91. I had the honor and privilege of giving a tribute at his funeral. Below is what I said. It's kind of long, but gives you a glimpse of the man who he was. I’ve spent the last week thinking about Grandpa and the man he was. He was such an important part of my life that it’s hard to imagine facing the remainder of my life without him in it. While he may be physically gone from us, I realized that the things he taught me through his life will continue to live on not only in me, but the rest of his family. Since top ten lists seem to be the cool thing to do, I thought that I would give you my top ten lessons that Grandpa taught me through his life. #1. He taught me to enjoy life and have fun. So many of my memories of him involve lots of laughter. He had a laugh that filled the house and invited you to join along with him. It didn’t take much at all to get a laugh out of him. He easily found the brighter side of life and...