Mid year, already?

Family trail run at North Table Mountain in May

We're past the Fourth of July and what do you know? Robert Frost was right... the thing we know for sure about life is that It Goes On. 

Looking back, we have had a great start to 2024. So far:

• Spring ski days at Loveland with my brother's fam for their Spring Break, and my mom was here, too.
• Had our own awesome spring break in FL to do the St. Anthony Olympic triathlon. GREAT RACE!
• Got to spend fun time with all the Florida fam. Love having both our families within easy travel distance so we can see each side!
• Took a last-minute trip to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for the total solar eclipse. We had a great time catching up with family, eating barbecue, and of course watching the sun completely disappear behind the moon!
• Mr. Blueberry Pancakes rode the EPIC RMTC Copper Triangle Ride - Copper Mountain to Leadville to Minturn to Vail up and over Vail Pass back to Copper. 80 miles and a LOT of elevation!
• I got my health coaching certification through American Council on Exercise (ACE).
• We both rode BikeMS on a PERFECT weather weekend, with Team Linda Lou, full of wonderful friends old and new!
• Solo Polo continues to amaze us with her joie de vivre - every day, she *still* seems happier than the day before.
• Had a great trip to Steamboat with wonderful friends for the Fourth of July weekend. Got to celebrate a birthday, watch the parade, eat all the pancakes, see our first drone show, it was a fantastic getaway!
• I was tapped to join a pilot mentoring program at work (WeightWatchers) and it significantly improved my coaching skills - the program was a success and is being rolled out to many more coaches!
• We volunteered at the Colfax Marathon and continue to enjoy volunteering monthly on the RMTC board.
• We are IN IT with our training for Wisconsin 70.3 this September. And we're still [mostly happily] married.
• In addition to WeightWatchers Coaching I've started athlete coaching, and I like it a lot. My two volunteer subjects are a huge help. 
• My mentee at East is through her sophomore year with great grades as an honor student, and is signed up for several AP classes this fall. I am so proud of her!

I can't say it's all been roses. Also in the past six months: 

• We've had a lot of unexpected home expenses (thank you, old house and old trees).
• Mr. Blueberry Pancakes rolled his ankle and was immobilized for six weeks because of it.
• Mr. Blueberry Pancakes' employer has gone through a complete organizational change which, as you can imagine, has been quite stressful. We're still not sure how the dust will settle but so far, so good.
• I took a major fall down a flight of stairs at a friends' house. I'm FINE but it was NO BUENO for about a month, there.
• I simultaneously had an unrelated rather serious calf injury. Again, I'm fine now, but was NO BUENO for about a month.
• We had some big car expenses, mostly maintenance, so mostly expected, but still - $$$. 
• General stress over how our parents are doing, now that they aren't exactly spring chickens. The short answer is they are all fine, and safe, and generally happy, but being far away, we worry, especially whenever any issue pops up (thankfully those are very few, lately).

The great part about all of these thorns is, each could be so much worse, we're almost always completely equipped to handle it, and when we're not God sends us a gift so that we can carry on. I literally thank God every day for watching out for us, there's just no other way this would be happening and I'm very, very grateful for all of it.

So, what now? Well, my resume is together-ish, though I'm not yet searching for full-time employment. I am actually looking forward to working full-time (outside of the house and all my volunteering) later this year. I'll still take baby steps to start the coaching side gig. We're trying to get through planning logistics for Wisconsin and figuring out whether or not we'll make it to the east coast this fall. We're also trying to determine how to keep the house and the yard at a level our sanity is ok with, while both training for an endurance event.  I have met so many wonderful people through training and racing, and I'm looking forward to continuing to build those relationships, old and new! And I have no idea how I'll fit this in, but I have to fit it in, I want to Write the Damn Draft. Believe it or not, just coming here to create this post is the start of that. One little baby step.

And there you have it. With that, I'll probably have something to say in December. May the last half of 2024 be the plot twist we've all been waiting for... and, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I love you all. 

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"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" - 2 Corinthians 9:15, NIV