Smart Snares

With so many people in the United States and the world struggling right now with unemployment and health issues, I spent some time wavering as to whether or not I should even write this post. Is it insensitive to talk about blessings when so many people are hurting?

The truth is that I don’t know how long I will have my health or my employment. No one does. If I wait to count my blessings, I might never get the chance. Besides, living a life full of embracing what you have sure beats the alternative, which is longing for what you don’t. So here goes nothing: My first list of blessings. These are things I have encountered in the last few days that have caused me to be grateful. The list is wildly incomplete. I will add to it over time (not on consecutive days but when I feel like it) until I get to a hundred.

1. A nice house in a safe neighborhood. We are able to go out and walk and the kids ride bikes with friends (and other popular socially distant activities). Our neighborhood continues to come up with ways to make the time outdoors enjoyable, and the vast majority of our neighbors have been friendly.
2. The best home-school teacher I know. I don’t think my son will look back at this as his favorite school year, nor do I think my wife will look back at this as “the year she decided to get back into teaching.” However, they will probably both look at this time fondly when it is all said and done. Meanwhile, my daughter is doing things before her fifth birthday that continue to amaze me. I know she wouldn’t be at that level without the work my wife puts in.
3. Phone time with mom. My family has admittedly not really ever been “phone people.” I know people who talk to their extended family all the time. I know people who talk to them some of the time. Meanwhile, I traditionally call my mom…eh…whenever I get around to it. Again, it’s just not our family’s thing. I call my sister rarely. (We text. If I called her out of the blue I think she would be worried that something was wrong.) Extra time at home has meant calling my mom two or three times a week, which for us is a lot!
4. Grocery stores and all the workers who keep them stocked (both near and far). I admire the grocery store workers right now, especially the elderly employees. They read the news and know the risks, and yet they still work their tails off to serve people. I have had better customer service in the last few weeks than maybe ever before.
5. My students. All the teachers are trying to get used to Google Classroom at my school, and it has its ups and downs. The students who have written me have been kind, patient, and complimentary of my efforts-even if they aren’t always the best. I even had a former student join my classroom just because he liked how I taught (although I had to tell him to get out because administrative Big Brother is watching).
6. Carryout food. Today I had half off wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. I want to support local business and not chains when possible, but I also have to be reasonable about the money I spend. When you can feed your family at a good price and discover that even the kids have wing flavors they like, it’s a win. (It’s Parmesan Garlic for one and Sweet BBQ for the other.)
7. Non-tech toys for the kids. I have seen the kids put together a ton of amazingly creative stuff with magnet tiles and Legos, and write some great stuff in their notebooks. My daughter and I played “snowball baseball” today and the Frisbee afternoons have been great with my son.
8. Social media. I have been using Facebook to share posts daily, and I think there has been a lot more positive than negative floating around on it lately. I think people get enough negative in the news that they don’t want to hear more than they have to. Now I will acknowledge that I had a negative political post a few days ago, and I don’t regret it. I would argue that most of my posts are positive though, and I hope to keep it that way.
9. Coffee. I am finding myself hooked more than ever before, and although that’s not a good thing, coffee has made the mornings warm and the afternoons cozy and relaxing. I may or may not have brewed half a pot at about 8:00 tonight.
10. Sunshine. We don’t always get sunshine here in Ohio, but today was a bright and beautiful day. I am grateful for the days of sun we do get, and on the days we don’t have sun at least I still have blessings 1-9.

It’s really hard to make a list of blessings and then feel lousy. I feel great. Will you share some with me? Seriously, I’m not kidding. I promise you will feel better too!

A couple months ago my wife and I decided to cut cable for a second time. I will freely admit that it’s my fault that I kept coming back to it. My wife and the kids watch Amazon Prime, Netflix, and all sorts of other apps on our television. I’m not sure they would notice it being gone. For me though, I watch sports so much that it can be really hard to quit. When we got a little bigger television and a new couch in the living room a year and a half ago, I thought it was ridiculous to not have cable television. Besides, the kids had broken the antenna. We got cable again, and it lasted about one year.

This time, when we decided to cut cable a second time I was prepared. I got on our roof, uninstalled an old Dish antenna, and put an over-the-air rooftop antenna in its place. After some trial and error in trying to figure out which coax line went to which television, we had cable. It was a triumphant moment for me just because I’m not the type who scales rooftops often. Just ask my wife how good our Christmas lights look when I do them. (Spoiler alert: If a six-foot ladder doesn’t get me there, it doesn’t go there.)

Anyway, I think about that decision in the current weird entertainment climate we have right now. First of all, live professional sports are pretty much gone at the moment. ESPN is relegated to talking more and showing less, which is part of why ESPN has become expendable in the first place. So although I miss the idea of watching some classic games, I don’t lose any sleep over it.

Part of me does miss cable news in this current atmosphere. It would be nice to be more up-to-date on what is happening nationwide. I feel like our local news does a pretty decent job of it and there is half-hour long national news on, but more would be better. Then again, would it really? Is more information really what I need right now? Is it even more information in the first place, or is it just more political versions of the ESPN talking heads sitting around a desk yelling at each other? I’m not sure I am missing much.

Third, the difference between bills has been about $70. It doesn’t solve every one of our financial woes (far from it), but if we were going to pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime anyway we may as well cut down the cost somewhere else. The antenna I put on the roof cost $30 if I remember right, and the biggest issue I have with it is the ugly extension cord running across one side of our house from the cable box to the garage.

I figure the longer I go without mowing the lawn, the better it will blend in…right?

This isn’t a lecture on being self-righteous. I’m not pretending I am great about not watching television or being on a device. Some people take “cutting the cord” as a badge of honor, as if somehow they sacrificed everything and made the honorable choice for their family. Please don’t take it as such. We have so much screen time as a family that it’s ridiculous.

Personally, I would just make the suggestion to someone sitting on the fence that now would probably be as good a time as any to give it a shot. We have ways of replacing the entertainment through other means that are cheaper. We aren’t missing sports on television. In my case, I actually get double the local channels now because we get both Cincinnati and Dayton television (which is actually really nice for local news because I teach in one metro area and live in another). Some of the over-the-air channels you haven’t seen before because you have cable are actually kind of cool. I continue to recommend Circle (although some cable companies carry it).

In the long run, I think people should use this strange time to take a closer look at what they are spending both their time and money on. It’s possible that both are reasons why you should make a change. It might not be with cable, but there might be something else. Think about it. Talk about it. Find out what’s right for you. Even if you decide not to make a change, just consciously putting your mind on the situation is more than most people do.

I have a theory that I am going to test out tomorrow. I am going to try it, and this post will be here, once and for all, holding me accountable. I am going to do something I haven’t done in far too long. This may sound dumb, but I am going to listen to two hours of music tomorrow.

Seriously, you have to hear me out here. Maybe you need it too. Let me explain. We are drowning in a news cycle. Who’s telling the truth? Who’s lying? Which sport are we NOT going to watch today? It’s hard to escape. My choice has always been sports radio on my drive home, but even that has been a little bit less engaging because at this point anything they talk about is speculation. How did the Diamondbacks look yesterday? Oh yeah, they didn’t play. Wait-I didn’t even drive home.

I was sitting here this evening thinking about the good times I have had over the last two weeks, many of them having been set to music. I wrote about how the Grand Ole Opry hosted music on a Saturday night (even without the audience) just like they have been doing every Saturday for the last 94 years. The Saturday night after I wrote about it, all four of us watched.

I continue to enjoy bits and pieces of songs from the Holderness family (look them up if you don’t know who they are), and I share them with my kids all the time. If you hear my daughter yelling “Where is my phoooooooonnnnnnnnneeee” please note that her phone is not lost, nor could it be since she doesn’t have one. It’s a parody of a Frozen song performed by the Holdernessssseseseses. I hate pluralizing family names that end in s, by the way.

My son thinks my music taste stinks and that “Old Town Road” is the best song in the history of the world, but he does love Metallica. “Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire…” Side note: I almost always listen to that song on the radio, so imagine my surprised expression when I played it on Apple Music and curiously read the lyrics!

Side note 2: I am fairly sure he didn’t even notice that word.

Side note 3: I am a bad parent.

Looking back at it there are a ton of great memories in my life set to music. I could go back and back and back, but I think I will save that for another post. What I can say is that sometimes a love of a song is a product of a memory, but sometimes a great memory comes from the perfect song. If there is music playing in our house, someone in a good mood probably put it on.

Tomorrow I’m going to try the reverse. I’m going to put on the music and see what kind of mood I can create. I’m going to push the news cycle to the back burner and let the songs take me where I want to go.

Go there with me! What will you listen to?

Teachers know the feeling. It’s Sunday night. You want to be lazy and watch football (okay, that’s MY feeling anyway). You don’t want to go back to school the next day. It’s not that you dislike your job or dislike kids; you just want to make the weekend last just a little bit longer. You enjoyed yourself and you are not quite ready to jump back into the swing of things.

Last night, I felt that way. It was the last day of Spring Break, which in our new world of online education is a fairly loose concept to begin with. Still, it didn’t matter. I wasn’t ready to go back. We had walked. We had gotten things done around the house. As I said before, we have two bike-riding children now. It was a great break even under the circumstances. It was time to head back to reality.

I guess given that feeling, I shouldn’t have been surprised when I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It was about 6:40 AM, which for what it’s worth would have been dreadfully late had I been driving to work. Instead of being grateful, I was grumpy. I was tired despite ridiculous amounts of coffee. I was trying to work in the basement with kids playing and distractions all around me.

When my wife and kids went for a walk, I felt much better. I finally felt like I could have peace and quiet. However, it wasn’t long until you could hear the door open and footsteps all around. It was my daughter, who had gone home early from her walk to use the restroom and eat lunch. Her request was a grilled cheese sandwich and Paw Patrol yogurt.

She hadn’t asked for much (and she asked nicely), so I took care of it. Soon my son was back and wanted to play in the basement some more. Suddenly I could feel myself going crazy. It was no one’s fault but my own. It was a product of the circumstances. We have plenty of house, but it doesn’t stretch quite as far when you work from home. I began to remember why my time working for an online high school didn’t go the way it should have.

A little after noon, I decided it was time to act. My wife has an old antique desk and we have six chairs around the dinner table (for four people). In minutes, the desk and a chair was in the guest bedroom. I needed somewhere quiet and besides, the circumstances sort of indicate we won’t be having any guests anytime soon. Suddenly some sanity, if only a little, brightened up my day. I was still interrupted pretty regularly by my daughter, but at least I had a corner that was calm and peaceful.

On our afternoon walk after my “work day” was over, I was able to tell my wife my frustration in being continually interrupted, and explained that even though I know the reality of our situation, I still have a lot of adjusting to do. I felt a lot better and then we had an amazing dinner (my wife made some amazing homemade ramen).

I think the moral of the story today is that I’m not good at this. You might not be good at this. I have a feeling that most people are not good at this. I am hoping throughout this process that my students (and their parents) will give the teachers a whole lot of grace as we try to figure out what the best way to go is. We are learning new software in new rooms with new distractions and new schedules.

Meanwhile, many of you are becoming teachers at home yourselves. I’m guessing you’re not good at this. If I’m a paid certified teacher and am not good at this, I can’t even imagine how most parents feel. So consider this a word of grace to you. Whenever I was absent, I always told people that if “a few of the kids learned something and my room didn’t burn down, I consider the day a victory.” So parents, teachers, kids, and anyone who is listening, I just want to throw out one question. Was today a victory?

I try to resonate with people in my writing. I feel like I’m in a pretty similar place to a lot of others, and I want to write things people can relate to. The nice thing about doing this is that I usually am able to do it in such a way that I don’t have to get into politics or any of the number of things that divide us as a nation.

I was reading an editorial today from Mitch Albom, a famous author and sports writer who lives in Michigan. He explained that he didn’t want to get political (and his genre generally prevented him from doing so) but that it was time to defend his governor and his state. He wrote clearly and plainly about the way his state had been failed by leadership, and more specifically President Trump.

Ohio and Michigan rarely agree on much. An informal survey voted each state the “most hated” by the other. Out here during game week, many Ohioans don’t even use the letter M. All things considered though, on this one I think Ohio and that other state will put divisions aside. We are not Ohio State versus Michigan; we are Midwesterners afraid that we elected the wrong man.

In the last two months, we have learned that the President is more lacking of empathy than virtually anyone in the world who holds a position of power. When a press conference required tact and the viewer needed consoled, we were instead told it was all going to go away. Instead of reaching out to families being impacted by Covid-19, Trump decided to tell everyone how good the economy was going to be. Then, just when it seemed Trump had figured out the seriousness of his neglect, he told everyone he looked forward to packed churches for Easter.

In the last 48 hours, we have learned that Michigan’s governor isn’t allowed to have a title. She is simply “the woman from Michigan.” We have learned that if Donald Trump doesn’t like dealing with you, he encourages his people to not pick up the phone. We have learned that the protective equipment we needed most was donated to China in early February. This is telling because although the act is generous, it takes a special kind of arrogance to believe that what happened there couldn’t happen here.

In the last 24 hours, we found out that President Trump was excited to hear of his nightly ratings. The idea that he could generate more viewership for his speeches than for The Bachelor wowed him to the point that he decided to tweet about it. In those same 24 hours, several hundred more Americans (and a couple thousand more worldwide) passed away due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In the last press conference, he referred to a member of the news media as “you people,” which would have been bad enough even had she not been an African-American. He then explained the news media was always negative and needed to “be nice.” Of course, maybe he would rather this exchange be talked about on newscasts. It may be better than dealing with the truth, which is that Trump has been wrong just about daily on this entire issue.

Here’s what’s crazy about the entire thing: I don’t even care if Trump is wrong or right. It doesn’t matter!

Let’s say a teenage boy drives recklessly and his dad says “that kid is going to get himself hurt someday.” If he gets a call saying his son is injured and in the hospital, is he going to spend his time bragging about how right he was? No! He is going to run, not walk, into the building. He is going to hug his son like he never has before, and hopefully take a moment to thank God that he still can.

Only a narcissist brags about being right in a time of crisis. Only a fool brags about being right when the facts actually say they have been wrong all along. When your nation is being presided over by a narcissistic fool, there’s only one word for that: dangerous.

The governors of Michigan and Ohio have been joined in solidarity during this outbreak. When one makes a move, the other is not far behind. One has a (R) next to his name, the other a (D) next to hers. They haven’t tried to be right or wrong. They have tried to protect their people. They wanted to be on the right side of history, whatever that history ended up looking like.

It’s very possible I will cost myself a social media friend or two by writing this, and it’s quite reasonable to say I should stick to my other topics. That’s fair. I have spent the last two weeks writing about living, loving, and trying to use this time to be a better person. However, a pastor once said to pay special attention to what “breaks your heart.” Right now my heart hurts for those who are suffering and it’s time to speak out.

Tomorrow, we will return to your regularly scheduled blog. Thanks.

There are a lot of things in life that I keep kicking down the road. For instance, did you know we have two dining room tables? Our friends got a new one and gave us their old one. Now our old one is in the garage. It needs sold. I’m thinking if someone offered us fifty bucks they could have it, along with the four chairs. With Facebook Marketplace and about ten minutes of my life, that table could probably be gone by the end of the day.

I could be wrong, but I feel like that seems to be the case for many of us. What is it that you have kicked down the road and avoided lately? What do you have in your life that would be out of your hair with just a little bit of effort, and yet it still lingers on? It doesn’t have to be a thing. Maybe it’s a job that needs done around the house. It could be something that needs more money than you have or more time than you are available for.

As you probably know (either because you read what I write or because you know me), I am a high school math teacher. My school is 52 miles away from my house, and although gas is cheap right now our bank account is thankful that I am not driving in. Normally I would have tennis 5-6 days per week as a coach during this time as well. Without that time on the road and on the courts, I found at least one can to stop kicking.

Last weekend, I took the training wheels off my daughter’s bike. (Well, it’s actually her older brother’s bike but he has graduated to a bigger and better one.) The training wheels were rickety and old and I felt like they were slowing her down more than keeping her safe. Now there is, of course, one big problem with this: when you take training wheels off, you no longer have the ability to kick the can down the road. You have to teach your daughter to ride without training wheels. There is no choice, because the other option is her not riding her bike at all.

Knowing this (and being on whatever you want to call our spring break), we went out a few times. I held her handlebars the first time to guide her, and she did pretty well. The next time, I held her coat collar because it was cold out and it actually did a pretty good job of giving her just enough balance. The third time, I don’t even remember what I was holding but you could tell she was close. By about the fourth time out, she did it! It was one of those dad memories you don’t forget. I still have video of when my son did it, and now I have video of my daughter.

I can’t help but wonder what May or June would look like if not for the coronavirus. Would I have taken the time to ride with my daughter, or would I have been worn out from a tennis practice? Would she still be going for rides with those old creaky training wheels? I think about my son and how he got off the training wheels fairly late comparatively. Did I set him back because I was too busy?

I could play the “what if” game all day, so I think it is more valuable just to tell it like it is. My daughter is riding her bike and gets to enjoy her “social distancing.” That stupid table is getting sold tomorrow because I don’t have tennis every day. My son is getting really good at throwing a frisbee and he can catch one better than ever. In light of all the uncertainty in the world, at least there’s that.

I have let a lot of things go, and some of those things I can’t have back. Still, using this time to pout about it doesn’t make anyone happier and it doesn’t make me a better person. It doesn’t get my daughter off her training wheels and it doesn’t help anyone else either.

When we wrapped up our evening today, another man and his son were riding bike around our neighborhood. He told me that his son had just learned to ride without training wheels and that at least something good can come out of being at home. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about all these walks and time in our community, it’s that we might just be more alike than we are different.

First of all, I want to start before I get into writing by saying the phrase “The New Normal” needs to be banned from our vocabulary. I don’t think anything we are experiencing as a society thanks to this coronavirus outbreak is going to be normal. Could we experience recession or depression? Sure. Will we have a new society without sports, shopping, or basic human interaction? Nah.

That’s part of why I want to write about what I saw today as I went out in my neighborhood. This scene has the makings of old man Bill saying “back in my day,” and following it up with something that may or may not be an exaggeration. If I don’t write down what I saw, how will I be able to tell how much I stretched the truth?

Anyway, my trip out started with a stop at Costco. As I walked in, there was a line. They decided to only allow a certain number of people in the store at once in order to promote “social distancing.” I only waited a couple of minutes, so it wasn’t a huge deal. At the front door there was a list of what was “in stock” and “out of stock.” The list wasn’t of much significance to me, but I was disappointed by their lack of frozen broccoli and their organic chicken breasts (which do taste better, just so you know).

Thanks to their shopper limit, the checkout lines were practically nonexistent. It was sort of strange not waiting in line, to be honest. The person at the exit who marks the receipts more or less admitted that he didn’t really care how many items were in my cart. He had guessed 13 and saw 12 printed, and said it was good enough and it didn’t really matter. Finally, the truth comes out!

Driving down the main drag of my suburb was interesting and sort of depressing at the same time. It was rush hour on a Friday, and yet traffic was more like I would expect on a Saturday morning. Gas was $1.69 at the Shell gas station, which was actually ten cents more than it was at the Kroger. Many restaurants had printed or hand-written signs to say they were open, hoping someone would call or stop in. I just wished I could visit them all and support their business. The drive thru line at Chick-Fil-A remained unchanged-that is, horrifically long.

I ran into a friend at Walmart while grabbing a gallon of milk and some coffee filters. We talked about how our families were dealing with this mess. His oldest son and my son are really close friends, and I know how frustrating it is for them to not have Cub Scouts or school together. Our families are coping in different ways, although it appears the common bond between myself and him is beer.

For the first time in a couple weeks, my family decided to carryout food. I stopped at the new hot chicken place, and there were a few people there. A couple of folks were putting in orders, a couple more were picking up, and there was a DoorDash delivery driver there as well. Everyone was really friendly, which is a trend I’ve noticed pretty much every day for two weeks straight now. (Well, except that one guy who yelled at me for leaving dog poop in his yard. I forgot my bag-I told him I was coming back for it!)

In the end, I came home, we ate, and then went on yet another family walk. Hopefully that will be one positive we take from this time that remains even after the virus is long gone. We have gone on more walks together than at any other time in our entire life.

Maybe the phrase “the new normal” doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If we focus on the good things, it’s possible to make that phrase a sign of positive things to come. Maybe having nothing to watch on television isn’t so bad after all if it means more walks. Maybe being nice to fellow shoppers and customers could be a new path forward!

“Back in my day, we had this really nasty coronavirus going around. That year, we learned a little bit more about what was really important in this world and we started looking out for each other a little bit more.”

“Oh, and I walked ten miles in the snow, uphill both ways.”

In the garage today I found a ticket stub to an old sporting event. It’s amazing how you can get so many incredible gems out of just one little piece of paper. The details are fading fast, which is why I couldn’t help but write about it. If I don’t do it now, I’m not sure it will ever happen.

1. The ticket was to an old Phoenix Mustangs ice hockey game on January 30, 1998. They wanted to get people in the door, so they offered free ice skating after the game. I thought it was a pretty cool opportunity, both to watch a game and to skate. It was a fantastic time. If you know anything about minor league hockey, there are lots of goals and lots of fights. Who doesn’t enjoy that?
2. The game was played at the old Veterans Memorial Coliseum, otherwise known by Phoenicians as the “Madhouse on McDowell.” It was the home of the Phoenix Suns for a quarter of a century, and it is still an active part of the state fairgrounds. That place was where I saw my first several sporting events and I still cherish the experiences.
3. I played roller hockey for a couple years, back when I was between 13 and 15 years old. Roller hockey was a ton of fun and it was a lot cheaper than time on real ice. The old YMCA building hosted it and we had to play 3-on-3 because the surface was pretty small. It was one of the more memorable times in my life. The coach’s son Brad was actually the kid who went to the game with me. Writing this made me wonder what he was up to, so I reached out and we actually messaged today on social media in mere minutes! What a cool little experience in the middle of it all!
4. None of this-the game, the skating, the roller hockey league at all-would have happened without my dad. He was a part of everything. He took me to practices and games for my league. He helped me use the saw and miter box to cut PVC pipe, which I used to make all my hockey goals for shooting and practicing on my driveway. Even though he didn’t have any legs and obviously couldn’t skate, he took us to the game anyway. He was perfectly willing to stay an hour and a half after the game and watch me do laps forward and backward with my friend. He gave everything he had for me, and he never stopped.

When I see an old ticket like this, there’s something symbolic about it that makes me very sad. It’s been more than two years since my dad passed away, and I know that when this ink fades completely there won’t be another ticket to replace it. It hurts to know that I can’t go see him in Arizona again or give him a call. (I didn’t think I would be crying while blogging today, and yet here we are.)

In all of this, I do know that I’m grateful for that ticket stub. It’s more than just a snapshot in time, but rather a window into the past. It’s a ticket to so many amazing memories, not just of that day but of the father I had and the life he helped me make.

I guess now everyone knows why I save my ticket stubs.

When I started my New Year’s Resolutions on January 1, I tried to pick out things that were achievable but not way too easy. I spent the entire month of January basically focused on doing those six things. My wife and I even began a group for encouraging others to work on their goals together. It wasn’t a big group, but the people in it really helped me a lot. I was able to complete every task for 32 straight days.

As February rolled on, I felt like I had to give myself a little bit of a cushion. There were a couple things on the list that probably didn’t need to be done every single day, and as tennis season started inching closer I was coming to the realization that many of the items wouldn’t be able to be done every day anyway.

By the time the month of February ended, however, I had stopped doing virtually everything I had set out to do. The idea of giving myself a “cushion” lasted about two weeks before I had created an excuse for everything. The gains I had made in many areas began to fall off. I went into tennis season with disappointment that I hadn’t carried some good habits longer.

Tennis season began on March 9, and we practiced for four days before we got the ruling that we were done (at least for now). The insane schedule I was preparing for myself was suddenly a figment of my imagination. What was to be done? What would I do? It turns out, one of the best decisions I made during this time was to restart my resolutions nine days ago. Instead of letting myself be fearful of the possible outcomes, I decided to work on myself while I had this strange gift of extra time.

Anyway, here are my six resolutions, which vary in both length of time and difficulty level. If it seems like some are completely unrelated to each other, it’s because they are.

1. Brush and floss. I think most people are pretty good about brushing, but flossing? I think that can be a struggle. If I don’t make a point of doing it, I tend to not. Bonus: When I had a dentist appointment earlier this year, it was super easy!
2. Run 5K (3.1 miles) or bike 10K (6.2 miles) every day. This has now turned into “Run 5K” because our gym is closed and I don’t actually own a bike. Fun fact though-even though I don’t have a bike for myself, I did teach my daughter how to ride without training wheels this week!
3. Four planks (one minute and ten seconds each). I may or may not have been jumped by my dog and my daughter doing planks a couple days ago. Now I do them in the basement, where the dog is not available for licking attacks.
4. Write 500 words. Well, it looks like the cat is out of the bag now. If anyone wonders why my posts are always a certain length, there it is. Usually they are between 500 and 700 words.
5. Read ten pages or more of a self-help book. I will be honest in saying that ten pages is pretty much the perfect length for me. It’s long enough to make it through a complete topic or most of a chapter, but short enough that I won’t give up or lose interest.
6. Complete the day’s passage from the 100-day New Testament reader. There are many around (Google it and you will find plenty). It doesn’t really matter who came up with it or if you make your own, as long as you read a couple chapters.

I know a lot of people don’t have an hour anywhere in their day where they can complete six resolutions. I’m sorry if this comes off as inappropriate due to an illness or a tough time you are facing because of the coronavirus. I’m putting my resolutions out there personally because I want to encourage people to try and make the most of a really bad situation. In the worst of times, sometimes routine can make a huge difference. If you don’t like my resolutions, make up some others. It’s not even about what they are so much as that we work hard to get a little better even if (and especially if) things around us are going crazy.

Thank you for being a part of it all-at least one-sixth of it! Your encouragement is powerful and I can’t wait to share everything else, both what I have written and what is still yet to come.

In Phoenix, beautiful days are more common than ugly ones. In the fall, winter, and spring you can play all day most of the time. The temperatures are moderate and you probably won’t get rained on. The summertime is a different animal, but even then people usually find a way to get outside in the morning or after the sun goes down. (Fun fact: that’s one of the reasons Arizona doesn’t spring forward or fall back with the rest of the country. Who in Phoenix would want an hour MORE sunlight?)

One of the differences I noticed when I moved to Ohio is that Ohioans don’t take beautiful days for granted. In the summer, hot and humid days can overwhelm you. In the winter, sometimes the cold temperatures or bitter wind keeps you inside. If you throw in a hundred days of precipitation every year, suddenly you find that maybe only about a third of days are truly great for outdoor activities.

Since living in Ohio doesn’t create the same opportunities, people jump on any chance they get to enjoy. In Cincinnati, on a nice October or November day you might not get to park in the regular zoo parking lot. In fact, you might not get to park in the second lot. I’m sometimes thankful to be able to make it into the overflow lot. We once had to park in a parking garage a mile away at the University of Cincinnati!

When I finished jogging around the neighborhood this morning, I stopped to stretch. It was quieter than usual, which isn’t surprising considering we are to stay at home unless we leave for essential reasons. (Exercise is considered essential just for the record.) It was a beautiful morning, with a few birds chirping and the sun just barely trying to peek out through the clouds. It was one of those fantastic mornings that just sticks with you all day.

It was then that I began to wonder if people are appreciating it today, or for that matter, if they did back long ago. When these beautiful mornings happened in the 1930s and people were struggling through one of the hardest times our country ever experienced, did they still cherish the chirping birds and sunshine? I have a feeling they did. When we were in war in the 1940s, did the people at home still experience stillness? I hope so. It was powerful to me, and it made me stop to enjoy the fact that even with all the awful news circulating, we still have the beautiful days. If you stay inside and watch the news (I am guilty as charged), you might miss it.

Everyone is dealing with different levels of stress, anxiety, and health thanks to the coronavirus, so please understand that my suggestions to go outside are simply that. I don’t say that to be judgmental to people who can’t bring themselves to go outside or people who physically can’t. I was simply wondering how many people in Cincinnati are actually cherishing this dry, mild, quiet morning. This city is so good at that, and I hope the “new normal” doesn’t involve missing out.

Maybe for you it’s not the great outdoors. It could be that first cup of coffee and the fifteen minutes of quiet before your kids wake up. It might be the hug or kiss goodnight you get from your spouse. Is it a quiet prayer around the dinner table? There’s something simple and beautiful in your life somewhere. If you’re like me, sometimes you get too busy to find it or appreciate it. I was so glad to find one of mine today and it helped my attitude a ton this morning.

This rough time for the world can be a huge challenge, but there’s beauty out there somewhere. I hope you find it today.