Thanks Dad

The non-descript brown book sized package was resting by the back door when we returned home from our afternoon walk. It was addressed to me and Noah, in my Dad’s handwriting. Stamped on the package were the words   “media material”. I hoped inside was the book Dad and I both loved so much.

I opened the package while Erin and Noah looked on, inside something was wrapped in Christmas paper, with a note;

I knew at that moment it had to be Robin Goodfellow and the Giant Dwarf. I tore open the paper as if I were a child on Christmas morning. There was the book that could make my Dad and me laugh before we even opened the cover. It looked newer than the tattered and torn copy from my childhood, and yet it was not brand new as I thought it would be. As I opened the cover a picture postcard of Tomie de Paola (the illustrator) fell out, odd I thought as I turned to the title page, and then it all made sense. The inscription read:

The book is no longer being printed, which makes it all that more special, that it is signed for Noah and I brings tears to my eyes. It is the simple things in life that mean the most; that is one of the many lessons my Dad has taught me over the years and continues to teach me even now. It is something that I plan to teach to Noah, I just hope I can do as good of a job as my Dad.

Childhood Dreams

Had the two major events of my teenage years, an unplanned pregnancy at seventeen and the death of a best friend a year later not happened, would I have chosen a different path? I have been mulling over this question a lot these past few days. Thinking about God’s plan and the dreams we have as school children. How if we are patient enough then the things we dream eventually happen, though maybe not in the order we thought.

By the time I reached 7th grade I had decided that I was going west to ski after high school. By 10th grade I had concluded that I wanted to get into the search and rescue field and spend my life helping people in the backcountry. I would get a black lab, go west, eventually meet the girl of my dreams and live happily in our mountain home. Then on a warm night in May 1996 I no longer wanted that dream, I just wanted to return to the carefree post graduation simplicity of the morning. I wanted our friend back. I bounced around the East after that; first to Pennsylvania to work, Florida and then New Hampshire for school, then Massachusetts with lofty dreams. Eventually I landed back in Vermont, working jobs I hated while dreaming once again of escaping west. I convinced my roommate we needed to move and we began to make plans. Two months before we were to leave I backed out. A few months later I met Erin, a year and a half after that we moved west.

Today sitting in our home in Utah with our black lab, the mountains visible through the dining room window, Noah in his swing and Erin knitting him a new hat I know my childhood dream has come true. God had and has a plan, though I am not always privy to it. The order of events may be different and the path not what I thought. The outcome however is the same and even more wonderful than I could have imagined.

2010 Goals

The smog settled into the valley just before Christmas and save for a few days it has stubbornly refused to leave. The storms have passed us by and unleashed piles of powder from the Midwest to the East Coast. This time of gray sky reflection has gotten me thinking of what I am going to do in 2010 and how we are going to spend the sunny days when they do come again.

I have only written down my yearly goals a few times in my life. The last time was in my mid twenties; I typed them up and hung them on the wall next to my bedroom door. I failed so miserably at obtaining any of them that I gave up on any future lists. Despite this I am a goal oriented person and it was my wife’s comment about this fact that got me thinking about goals for this year. With my new role in life I have a lot of time on my hands and an impressionable mind to entertain. With this in mind and a hope to save some shred of sanity I took some time the other day to write down my list of easily obtainable goals, save for the number seven, for 2010.

1. Get a wicked goggle/sunglass tan
2. Hike every other day
3. Hike all the trails in Mill Creek Canyon
4. Hike from Neff’s Canyon to Mill Creek Canyon
5. Write a blog entry at least once a week
6. Spend more days and hours per day outside than inside
7. Get three powder days
8. Build Noah a toy box

I would like to say something profound about my list, but really there is nothing profound about getting a wicked goggle tan. This list, however simple, really has nothing to do with the words that make it up and has everything to do with introducing Noah to the beauty that is outside our door. So that he knows that the world is not just computers, text messages, video games and fancy stuffed animals that know his name. It is about adventure, learning and exploring the world around you. It is about using your imagination to create something so amazing in a place so beautiful that when the sun begins to sink into the Western desert you do not want to go inside but you do; dirty, tired and hungry and full of wonderful stories to tell mom during dinner as a family.