Highlights of 2005

I like the end of the year. It allows me to reflect upon the year and goals I want to set for the next one. Overall, 2005 was a good year. Major events included:

2005 was indeed a good year. Here's to hoping 2006 is just as great.

Emergency Room Christmas

The emergency room wasn't where I expected to spend Christmas Eve. But that's where Marathon Girl and I spent our evening together. It all started Thursday afternoon when Marathon Girl went for a run. Almost home she tripped and fell. She broke her fall with her hands. One was fine. The other was scraped and bruised up quite a bit. It wasn't very painful so we decided to take a wait and see approach.

But by the evening of December 24, parts of her hand began to swell and we thought it best to have it checked out. So we left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and drove to the emergency room.

Much to our surprise, the emergency room was packed with Christmas related injuries. The guy who walked in after us sliced open his hand when he was assembling one of his kids Christmas presents.

An hour later we were called back. After another hour of waiting there were X-rays taken of Marathon Girl's hand. Then the verdict came back: Her hand was not broken but severely sprained. They gave her a splint for her hand, told her to ice it and take ibuprofen and said we were free to go home.

We picked up the kids from their grandparents, took them home and put them in bed for the night.

Aidan's too young to know or understand who Santa Clause is but it didn't stop him from being excited upon seeing all the presents under the tree Christmas morning. He walked around, looking at them, saying "Wow!" I can now understand why my parent's looked forward to Christmas morning just to see the looks on our faces.

Aidan enjoyed opening both his and Steven's presents. (Steven slept through the entire present opening experience.) After opening one, he would sit and play with the new toy, very pleased that someone had given him something that made a lot of noise and had bright, flashing lights.

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For Christmas I had a small number (20) copies of my book printed for friends and family. Even though I was proud of the book, it was a hard present to give. There's a lot of personal experiences in there that I had never shared with anyone other than Marathon Girl and it's always nerve wracking for me to bare my should to those I'm close to – especially when it involves showing how human I am.

But initial feedback from friends and family has been very positive.

Marathon Girl's father finished the book yesterday and told me that he thoroughly enjoyed it.

"Are you still glad I married your daughter?" I said.

He laughed and said that he was glad that I married her and was part of the family. And my sister just called and said she and her husband couldn't put it down. She also said the book answered a lot of questions she always had about what happened the day my wife died and what life was like for me.

I was glad to hear her say that. If it puts to rest questions friends and family have about my first wife's death and how I handled things, then it was well worth all the time spent writing it.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone have a safe and fun-filled Christmas. I'll be back next week with some big news.

The book

I finished the book last night. I can't begin to describe how good that feels.

Fresh Powder

I have one morning each week where I don't have to exercise. For whatever reason I can skip a run or a session with the weights. No reason needs to be given for not wanting to exercise. It doesn't matter if I want to sleep in or read or simply don't feel like exercising. I have one day and can use it however I want. (This one day off a week actually helps me stay motivated to exercise the remaining days of the week.) So Tuesday morning arrives. I have a four mile run scheduled. Before I can get out of bed, Marathon Girl puts her arm around me and asks if I'll stay in bed. I have that one day where I don't have to exercise and made the decision to stay in bed. Besides, winter is the hardest time of year to run because it's cold and dark outside. So I snuggle back under the covers and plan on running the next morning.

Unfortunately the God of Winter decided to play a little trick and dump three inches of snow on the ground Tuesday night. And when I woke up Wednesday morning to this winter wonderland, I wanted to stay in bed. The roads were packed with snow. The temperature hovered around five degrees Fahrenheit. This was the day I should have stayed in bed.

Instead I got out of bed very slowly (I kept hoping Marathon Girl would pull me back under the covers but she was sound asleep), dressed in umpteen layers of clothing and headed out the door.

I was surprised that there were no other footsteps on the running trails. The regular runners having wisely stayed indoors left me with three inches of virgin snow to run though.

Turns out running wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I had to run slower than normal, traction was good. The air was crisp and clean and felt good to breathe. And it was nice to have the running trails to myself.

And by the time I was done running I was convinced of one thing: If you've never run on fresh power, you've never really run.

(The last line with apologies to Tobias Wolff.)

December Seventh

December Seventh. For those in my grandparents generation it's Pearl Harbor Day.

For Marathon Girl and I, it's the day I asked her to marry me.

Three years ago in cold, snowy Logan Canyon, Marathon Girl agreed to take the leap.

Three years.

It seems like yesterday.

Looking back I'm still amazed things worked out the way they did. But now I can see lots of little miracles that happened along the way that allowed us to reach that point where Marathon Girl agreed to be my wife.

Some things, I believe, are meant to be.

It's a Home Depot Christmas (Tree)

Never thought I'd buy a Christmas tree from The Home Depot. But that's what we did Friday afternoon. With the exception of last year (when I chopped down my own tree), I've always bought Christmas trees from some guy selling them in a lot. I never really liked doing it that way. There was something about those guys that reminded me of used car salesmen. The trees in the lots seem expensive and I for the most part, I've never been impressed with the quality of the trees. Then there's problem of transporting the tree. Marathon Girl and I don't have a minivan or truck that would be useful in transporting Christmas trees. I was fretting about tying the tree to the top of the car or smashing the branches to make it fit in our truck.

So Friday we went tree hunting. By chance we happened to drive by Home Depot and Marathon Girl noticed they were selling trees. Despite the less than perfect experiences I've had buying trees from the normal places, I was hesitant to check them out. Who buys their tree from Home Depot? No one I know. Until Friday, I didn't even know they sold Christmas trees.

Much to my surprise, the trees they sold were really good. The were fresh, full, and came in a variety of sizes. In vive minutes we had found the perfect tree for way less than we were planning on spending. If our Christmas tree buying experience had ended there, I would have been happy.

But it got better.

One of the employees made a fresh cut to the bottom of the tree then ran it through this netting machine that snuggled all the branches together so it would fit in our truck. We were in and out of the store in ten minutes. It took less than thirty seconds to fit the tree in our trunk. After taking the tree home we cut the netting and the tree looked just like it did in the store. So instead of being happy with the Christmas tree we bought, I was thrilled. Unless we have the chance to cut our own, I'll more than likely go back and buy one next year.

The best part about the Christmas tree, however, was Aidan's reaction. He seemed a little mystified at Hope Depot that we were buying a tree and putting it in the car. Once we got it home and set up in the stand (without lights) he was thrilled. He ran up to the tree and pointed at it and said "WOW!"

Now it's his favorite object in the house. We put lights and ornaments on the tree last night and he things the tree is even cooler. This morning the first thing he did was run to the tree, point to it and say "Tree! Tree! Tree!"

He can't get enough of it.

And Marathon Girl and I can't get enough of him being excited.

So far the holiday season is off to a great start.