Spending a lot of time with this guy...

Joe Mauer!



I kid, but I am spending a lot of time with this new beauty, which I named after my favorite baseball player. After all, Joe is athletic and handsome just like the original. I might be kind of bias.



Our last ride with Armstrong. It was a good long run buddy.




I feel old, making these big purchases and all, but Joe and I really have had a good first week together. Hopefully he'll stick around for the long term.

Day of Caring

Last week I had the opportunity to go to United Way's Day of Caring in which I was able to spend half of my work day doing a service project. The particular project I was involved in was creating phonic packets for teachers in a nearby school district.
While there I met Carl who became my best friend for the day. As we cut paper he told me all about his wife, their love story, and about his 10 kids. He told me a bunch of different stories, from he and his wife's younger years, some good and some not as good, but in the end they ended up being the kind of thing that brought them closer. He was so sweet. He one time paused for a second and then apologized because he sometimes gets a little emotional about this stuff, they had just celebrated their 43 anniversary. When he talked about his wife and family his eyes just lit up and he kept telling me that he hoped I could meet his wife someday and get her side of things, because she is so much better at telling it.
He had obviously been through some hard times, like he told me, but that was what made it so good. He had such a full life with a great wife and family that he adored. It made me think a little bit and put some things into perspective. When things get hard, you have the potential to come out on the other side even better and happier and more full than you ever would have been before. This is something that I have always known, but it was nice to get a little reminder.